The Marriage Paradox
by fantasy1290
Summary: What would you do if you found yourself missing the last 24 hours and waking up in a strange bed and now married to the last girl on the planet you'd ever want to be with? Harry is about to find out. Harry/Pansy
1. Chapter 1

The Marriage Paradox

Chapter 1

Harry Potter awoke feeling like he had just had a wonderful dream.

There was a girl in it, he was sure of that, he just couldn't seem to remember who exactly the girl was.

Good dreams for him were a bit rare nowadays what with the recent loss of his beloved godfather Sirius in the Department of Mysteries so it was a shame he couldn't really remember it.

However he realized with a start, he had another good thing to look forward to.

Today was his birthday. That meant he was now 16.

Since he'd be spending it at the Dursleys there would be little fanfare, but hey you didn't turn 16 everyday and he'd received a few presents from various people for him to open that morning.

So caught up in that thinking that it wasn't until he was just about to get out of bed to go open his presents that he realized he was not in his normal bed.

That realization was alarming enough, but then he realized he was not in fact alone in it either.

Someone was in this bed, breathing in and out lightly and probably still asleep.

With trepidation, he tried to roll over and look at who they were.

When he saw who it was, he let out a scream, which instantly awakened her, only making the situation 10 times worse in the process.

She let out a scream of her own and she then tried to back away from him out of the bed...only to stop when she realized that she was currently not at all dressed.

Fortunately for both of them, he hadn't really seen anything.

He occasionally slept in the nude himself so being naked for him in a bed usually wasn't too big a deal...unless he found himself waking up in bed with an equally naked girl that you didn't remember getting into bed with.

"What in Merlin is going on?" None other than Pansy Parkinson demanded angrily as she tried to gather up one of the blankets to cover herself with as she tried to get as far away from him as possible.

"I could ask you the same thing!" He insisted, "I don't remember anything so it has have been something you did."

Pansy looked at him coldly and said, "if this is your way of trying to get away with attempting to kidnap and rape me against my will you've got another thing coming."

"Rape you?" He asked, rather aghast, "why in Merlin's name would I want to rape you? Even if was a rapist you can bet I could find someone nicer and better looking than you to rape."

"Oh is that supposed to make me feel better?" Pansy argued, now only more angry.

All right, he thought to himself, try to think things through. Let's figure out just what's going on. Arguing with her isn't going to help anything.

Pansy clearly didn't know what was going on either and even if she was just a very good actor she'd have no reason to do something like this.

She and him were pretty much enemies. She was always cozying up to that Draco and he and Ron were always disgusted by it.

The rumor was that they were actually betrothed to each other...and well he was pretty sure that something like this might be grounds to break a betrothal if it was ever found out.

That led to another awful thought.

"We didn't...you know...do anything?" He questioned her.

"I would certainly hope not," She replied, as if disgusted by even the idea.

"Good," He said.

That didn't mean they hadn't, but...surely they would be able to tell afterwards if they had, right?

After another moment of silence however he noticed something else, and this was most alarming of all. It just about nearly made him faint on the spot.

As if to show that it could in fact get much, much worse.

"Um, Parkinson," He slowly managed to say, "look at your hand."

She looked at what he was getting at and exclaimed, "you have got to be kidding me!"

A wedding ring currently was on her finger, appearing very ornate and likely expensive.

On his own finger was a less ornate, but also likely expensive ring.

He was married? He thought to himself, to Pansy Parkinson no less? Please tell me this is a dream, let it be a very awful, very messed up dream."

Correction. More like the worst nightmare ever.

Harry tried slapping himself in hopes of waking up but instead all he got was a hurt cheek.

Pansy noticed what he was doing and commented, "if you're trying to slap yourself in the hopes that I won't do it to you, you're sadly mistaken."

"I'm trying to wake up!" He yelled at her.

"Well it's obviously not working," She snapped at him.

"It was better trying it than have this all turn out to be real," Harry pointed out.

"Don't worry, I'm still trying to convince myself it's not," Pansy confided, "let's just say waking up to find myself married to you is just as unrealistic as you can get."

He really needed to get out of here and figure out just what was going on, he thought.

"I'm getting dressed," He informed her, "so don't look."

"Oh, don't worry, I won't have any problem with that," Pansy insisted, "who'd ever want to see you naked?"

He managed to find some of his clothes currently laying on the floor beside his bed and then went to go look around.

It appeared to be some sort of house as far as he could tell. It had a bedroom, a bathroom, a living room, a kitchen and dining room, and a room with a jacuzzi and pool table.

He finally opened the front door and stepped outside to find out exactly where they were and found that they were right on a beach, his currently bare feet slipping into soft white sand.

In the other direction as he turned around to look past the house, there appeared to be a tropical jungle, various coconut palms nearby and many other trees that he didn't recognize further in.

Of course, he'd never actually been anywhere tropical, basing his knowledge off of pictures he'd seen, but it certainly looked like this was somewhere tropical, perhaps even an island.

There had to be other people around here somewhere though, people that he could then use to contact someone such as Dumbledore who could figure out just what was going on.

He was just about to see if he should maybe walk along the beach for awhile to see if he could maybe spot someone when he heard Pansy call out to him.

"Potter," She called, still sounding quite unhappy as she strode towards him, now fully dressed in a lime green dress.

"I'm just trying to figure out where we are," He admitted.

"I already figured that out," She told him as she held up a poster with a picture of the house they had been in.

"St. Angelou's," He read, "a tropical private island paradise fit for the couple who want to get away from it all."

Pansy seemed to already know exactly where that was.

"If this is some sort of sick and elaborate prank on someone's part they certainly did their homework," Pansy confided, "I've always wanted to go here for my honeymoon."

He let that sink in for a moment before asking, "who would do something like that though?"

She frowned and said, "I don't know, but I'm going to find out and strangle them first chance I get."

Personally he was having similar ideas, but he was curious how she now figured a third-party must have done this to them.

"You don't think I did this anymore?" He asked her.

"No, I figure that would only be punishing yourself just as it would me now that I think about it," Pansy claimed, "the reason why this island is so sought after is because it's so isolated, out in the middle of nowhere in the Pacific with no communication with the outside world."

"We're the only ones here?" He questioned.

"Not exactly, I know there is at least a staff member who works here," She answered as she then called, "house elf, come here."

Immediately in popped a small female house elf dressed in a black pillow case and a small white bib tied around her middle as if to emulate a maid's uniform but not actually be wearing any real clothes.

"Mistress Potter is calling for Tipsy?" The house elf asked.

"It's Parkinson actually," Pansy told her, unwillingly to accept that name.

"Youse is married to Master Potter though," Tipsy declared.

"Did we really get married Tipsy?" Harry questioned.

She nodded and said, "last night. You even have the marriage glow around you."

"Marriage glow?" He inquired.

"It's just something that is cast on a couple when they get married," Pansy explained, seeming to recognize what that was, "it's normally invisible except with the right spell or certain creatures that can see it such as house elves."

"Any way to fake it or put it on somebody without actually getting married?" He asked.

Pansy shook her head and said, "the only way would be if we actually did get married and we both actually gave consent to it."

"I'd never have consented to marrying you though," Harry insisted.

"Likewise," She agreed, "which only makes things more perplexing. Tipsy, did you see us at all...last night?"

Tipsy nodded and said, "You was very happy to be here and get married Master and Mistress Potter."

"We were?" He questioned, "like you actually saw us last night and we were happy to be married?"

The elf nodded.

"You'd think I'd remember something as big as I don't know say, getting married," Pansy commented.

He had to agree. Even if he was drunk, and he'd have to be really, really drunk to marry Pansy Parkinson and then go on their honeymoon he'd still remember something.

"Imperious curse?" She suggested.

He shook his head and said, "I can fight off the Imperious curse. Maybe for a minute or two if they were really good, but there's no way it would work on me for that long."

As they tried to come up with other ideas, many of them unlikely even if you disregarded the reason for anyone doing to this to them, Tipsy asked, "would Master and Mistress Potter like something to eat?"

"Stop calling me that," Pansy chided her before slowly saying, "yes bring me some pumpkin juice if you have it."

While he wasn't particularly in the mood for anything other than a heavy dose of sanity, he asked Tipsy for one as well. Perhaps it might help clear his head a bit.

Tipsy popped out to go get them.

"So someone evidently got control of our bodies or impersonated us somehow, got us married, bought a honeymoon vacation to here then had us travel here, got us naked in bed, and then all so we would wake up and find ourselves in the state we're now in," Harry surmised.

"That about sums it up," She agreed, "which begs the question how long a space of time even transpired that neither of us can remember?"

"We'll ask Tipsy what the date is when she gets back," He suggested, "I know that today was at least supposed to be July 31st since that's my birthday."

She snorted a bit before saying, "worst birthday ever then."

After that came another pause as they still tried to work things out.

Pansy then slowly said, it obviously again on her mind, "we really didn't..."

"After everything that's apparently happened I can't say I would be surprised," He answered for her.

"Well there's only one way to find out," Pansy replied, getting her wand out.

She waved it over her...well lower lady bits and then said, sounding relieved, "nope I'm still a virgin so we definitely didn't do it."

There was that at least, he thought to himself, although he was surprised Pansy was still a virgin. He would have thought surely she and Malfoy would have at some point.

At that moment, Tipsy popped back in carrying two pumpkin juices for each of them which they took gratefully although he found himself almost wishing he had gotten something a little stronger.

He'd never tried alcohol but this sounded like a really good time to need some.

Then again he really wanted his wits about him at the moment so he could try and figure this out still.

As they sipped their drinks (which admittedly were rather good and which he guessed was kept in a refrigerated food storage shed somewhere on the island) he asked Tipsy, "do you know what the date is?"

"Of course," Tipsy answered, "August 1."

So that meant only one day had gone by. Not a lot of time for whoever had done this to them, but he supposed certainly doable if they'd really hurried and used fast transportation.

He had however missed his birthday, which only meant that someone was being extra cruel in making him have no recollection of his birthday and evidently have him spend it marrying Pansy Parkinson.

"So how do we even get off this island?" He asked Tipsy.

Tipsy shook her head and said, "you can't, not until the boat comes when your honeymoon is up."

"When is our honeymoon over?" Pansy queried.

"Youse paid for a whole month," Tipsy replied.

"A month!" Pansy exclaimed, "I can't spend an entire month on this island alone with Potter."

"Tell me about it," Harry agreed, trying to imagine how that was even doable.

A month, he thought, what kind of torture was this? Even Voldemort wasn't this cruel. He would at least have killed him within a few days of torture once he tired of him or his mind finally broke.

This was just beyond cruel and inhuman.

"Is there anyway to send any messages or communicate with anyone at all?" He demanded.

Again, Tipsy shook her head.

"What about in the event of an emergency, surely there must be some sort of thing we can do in the event of that?" Pansy prodded.

Tipsy thought for a moment before saying, "well if Tipsy were to die, my master who owns the island would know and come here."

Surprisingly Pansy declared, "well we aren't killing you over this."

"You wouldn't?" Harry questioned her.

"I'm not that heartless," Pansy insisted simply.

Tipsy seemed totally unconcerned by them thinking about killing her and instead suggested, "would youse like Tipsy to make breakfast now?"

Pansy seemed to think for a moment before deciding upon a breakfast of cinnamon french toast, which he did not object to.

After Tipsy had popped out again to make it, he opted to walk along the beach and try to figure things out while she headed back inside.

However even as he thought, he still couldn't manage to make sense of things.

The only things he did know was that he was evidently now married to Pansy Parkinson and would be trapped on their honeymoon with her for the next month.

For the first time in his life he found himself actually wishing that Voldemort would show up and kill him to put him out of his misery.

Yet as if in stark contrast to his dread over how he was going to manage to survive, he couldn't help but note that the island was totally gorgeous, just about as nice a place for a honeymoon as you could get...minus the part that they were totally isolated and away from everything.

By the time he got back, Pansy was already eating breakfast at the kitchen and he hastened to start eating himself.

Breakfast was a difficult affair with neither of them really saying anything, but finally as she was just finishing Pansy said, "so what are we going to do then?"

"Well try and see if we can last an entire month without killing each other for one," He suggested, "and maybe try and figure out what in Merlin's name is going on at the same time.

She didn't seem to have a problem with that.

"Agreed," Pansy said, "I think maybe if you stay out of my way and I stay out of your way as much as possible we just might make it."

With that out of the way, he figured if he was going to be trapped on a tropical honeymoon island he might as well enjoy himself as best as he could and perhaps try to forget about all the other stuff.

After he got done eating he found some clothes in the dresser that were clearly his even though they were brand new.

Among them he found a swimsuit which he put on and then went out onto the beach and decided to go play in the water and in the sand.

He had to admit it was fun, having never had the chance to go to the beach before, the Dursleys never having taken him with them.

The sand was warm and so was the water, just about the perfect temperature.

When it came time for lunch, he called for Tipsy who then found out what he wanted and then brought it to him.

Eventually though he began to feel in pain.

He hadn't noticed because he'd never had to worry about getting sunburnt, but he certainly was now, his torso, arms, and legs clearly badly burnt.

No longer wishing to stay outside and get more burnt, he headed inside to see if maybe he could find some way to relieve the pain.

Pansy was currently sitting in the bed reading a book, but glanced up when he saw him come in.

He began to search around looking for maybe something that might help him when she questioned, "what are you looking for?"

"Something for this sunburn," He admitted, "I forgot to put on lotion."

Pansy winced as she saw his red skin before telling him, "I could probably fix that for you."

"Really?" He questioned in surprise, "how?"

"Using magic," She answered as she got out her wand.

"Won't the Ministry know you're using underage magic?" Harry pointed out.

"Well first of all I already used magic earlier remember and even if they can detect it when we're outside of Britain, I'm evidently married now which means that rule no longer applies to me," Pansy observed, "I figured I might as well get at least some benefits out of this crazy scenario I find myself in. What do you think I've been doing since you left this morning? Using magic of course."

It certainly made sense at least and made him wish he had thought of that.

Even the book she was holding was clearly a spellbook, he realized.

Pansy went over to him and held up her wand and carefully waved it over his body.

He watched with amazement as the burns slowly faded away.

She put a hand on his chest just to make sure his sunburn was totally gone but then realized just what she was doing and pulled away.

"There good as new," She remarked.

"Thanks," He said gratefully, "so where did you even learn that spell anyway?"

"I was taking a healing internship at St. Mungo's over the summer," Pansy admitted.

"You want to be a healer?" He asked her to his surprise.

He'd never have guessed healing would be Pansy's thing, if anything more like the opposite.

She shrugged and said, "I don't know, maybe."

Noting that she didn't seem inclined to talk more and quite honestly neither did he, he headed out again...after he'd gotten some sunblock on this time.

Careful exploring soon led to him finding a shed not far from the house where there was several beach items he could use including a boogie board, some snorkels and scuba gear, and even a large supply of gillyweed."

He smiled, remembering when he'd last used this during the 2nd task of the Triwizard Tournament.

It wasn't particularly a pleasant experience, but he was still happy to be able to see the gillyweed and recognize it nonetheless.

On a whim, he took some gillyweed with him but first opted to try out some magic.

Well if he wasn't married and the Ministry could somehow manage to track him even outside of Britain the Dursleys would be getting an awful lot of letters right about now.

With any luck they would be sitting down to dinner and the owls would drop the letters into the food and decide to perch on his Aunt's head.

He used various spells for hours, not because he wanted to practice any particular spell but because of the novelty of it.

At least he got some perks out of this. He could even use magic outside of school even before Ron and Hermione could.

That got to him. What would they say or think when they found out?

He imagined how that conversation would go.

"Hey guys, guess what I did over the summer?" He imagined himself saying, "married Pansy Parkinson!"

Yeah that would go over real well, he thought. They'd probably think he'd lost his mind not that he could blame them.

When it got too dark to see very well, he opted to use the gillyweed and do a bit of nighttime underwater exploration, using his wand to keep the water around him lit up.

Admittedly it was rather fascinating being underwater. Much more fascinating than the murky Black Lake at Hogwarts anyway, with many tropical fish swimming around close enough that he could almost reach out and touch them.

Once he thought he saw a mermaid for a moment but when he glanced back whatever he had thought he saw was gone.

Finally however he reluctantly emerged from the water, already tired after a long and tiring day.

Up until now he had pretty much been trying to avoid the much more dire and serious situation he was really in, but he knew he'd have to face Pansy again at some point and try to work things out with her.

That was going to be fun, meaning absolutely no fun at all.

Yet he found her sooner than expected, standing there waiting on the beach with a scowl on her face.

"Where did you go?" She demanded angrily.

"I was just doing some underwater exploring," He tried to tell her.

"I looked everywhere and couldn't find you," Pansy insisted, sounding upset, "I was worried something might have happened."

That stopped him.

"You were worried about me?" He asked, rather surprised.

She blinked before admitting, "well I couldn't have you die on me on our first full day of marriage now could I?"

If this was meant to be a touching moment, he managed to mess it all up with his next couple of questions.

"Wouldn't that be better for you then? Being able to inherit all my money if I died?" Harry pointed out.

She looked insulted as she insisted, "I'm not a moneygrubber."

Pansy turned around and he suddenly felt a bit guilty, guilty enough to apologize.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean that you would do something like that," He told her.

She looked back at him for a long moment before saying, "I accept your apology. I guess it's just been a long stressful day for both of us."

"True," He agreed.

They headed back to the house in silence before she asked, "so how was the water?"

"Perfect," Harry admitted.

"I'll have to do some swimming tomorrow then," She declared.

"I can stay in the house then if you'd like?" He suggested.

"I'd say there's enough beach for both of us," Pansy pointed out, showing she was willing to share and compromise just a little bit.

Once they got inside however he figured that her hospitality towards sharing did not include sharing a bed...not that he would have accepted if she had.

After finding some extra blankets, he opted to sleep on the couch in the living room, the irony of it even on his first day of marriage causing him to chuckle.

That usually didn't bode well for a marriage.

"What are you laughing about?" She questioned.

"Just the fact that I'm sleeping on the couch on our honeymoon," He answered her.

She gave him an odd look, clearly not getting the joke before retiring to bed.

He tried to get some sleep to, but now with no magic to do or fish to see, his mind was now focusing on his situation and upon Pansy.

The first thing he thought of was that the most obvious solution to this whole problem was simply to just get a divorce, preferably a secret one so no one would ever find out.

It would really be best for Pansy as well. If Voldemort were to find out he was married...well...that just might put her in unnecessary danger.

Besides he was sure that would be what she would want as well.

After awhile, his thoughts then shifted to what he knew of Pansy and he could come up with very little. She had been with Malfoy, she was a Slytherin...according to Ron those two things alone just about made her evil incarnate, but he was starting to think otherwise.

Not that she was actually nice or anything, just nicer than he had originally thought.

At least she had been worried about him and not wished him dead...which he supposed was something considering a truly evil person would probably simply kill him in order to try and inherit all of his money.

It wasn't something he could hide him being rich, just about everyone knew about it even if he never flaunted it or even talked about it in front of anyone.

Just how rich he wasn't sure, but he assumed that it was enough money to last him for awhile.

Pansy on the other hand he had no idea whether she was wealthy or not but judging from the state of the clothes she usually wore she was probably more in the category of the latter.

What else did he know about her, he thought.

Well she was pretty he supposed now that he thought about it. Not like drop dead gorgeous can't stop staring kind of pretty, but attractive at least. If she wasn't Malfoy wouldn't be interested in her he reasoned, but then again he wasn't entirely sure Malfoy wasn't secretly gay.

He tried to think of anything else he knew about her but came up blank. No doubt she knew way more about him than he did her, thanks to all that boy-who-lived garbage and Malfoy likely talking trash about him to her.

Finally he managed to stop thinking about such things and get some sleep.

The next few days were spent in an awkward silence and avoidance between each him and Pansy, trying to stay out of each others' way as much as possible and mostly succeeding.

One evening however it began to rain, forcing both of them indoors.

He opted to try out the jacuzzi, but after getting there he realized he'd forgotten his wand in his pants so he could cast a bubble bath spell.

Of course he'd deny it if anyone asked, but he did enjoy a good bubble bath and the jacuzzi was probably designed to handle it.

Yet when he got back, he found Pansy already in the water and evidently she'd had the same idea he had because there were already plenty of bubbles floating at the top of the water.

While he could have simply left, his stuff was still lying nearby...and he had gotten there first.

Besides it was plenty big enough for both of them, if she didn't like it then she could leave.

So he tentatively got into the water.

"I was here first," He claimed, pointing at his stuff.

She looked over before nodding and made no other comment, tipping her head back so she could relax a bit.

Deciding it was then safe, he tried to relax a bit himself...despite the fact that having Pansy there in such close proximity to him was having pretty much the opposite effect of relaxing.

Finally however she decided to say, "you know maybe we need to talk."

"Maybe we should," He was forced to agree.

"So how do you want to handle this whole marriage thing?" Pansy asked him.

"Well I figured that we could just get a divorce," Harry suggested.

Pansy frowned and said, "I'd like to say it could be that easy but I'm afraid it's a bit more complicated than that. My father will be...displeased if and when he finds out and he probably will find out."

"I'd imagine he would be pretty angry finding out his 16 year old daughter went and secretly got herself married and disappeared for a month," He guessed.

"Oh no, he'll probably be happy about that, I was talking about the divorce," Pansy informed him.

"Why would he ever be happy about that?" He questioned.

"Since it's to you," Pansy admitted, "my parents are a bit old fashioned in that they want to marry me off to the richest, most powerful guy they can find. Unfortunately you're just about as high up there as you can get."

He let this digest as a thought occurred to him.

"Is that why you and Malfoy...?"

"Yes," Pansy admitted, "he's just below you I'd say as far as potential matches would be concerned when it came to my parents. I'd imagine however that once this whole incident is discovered...well I'd imagine that the Malfoys would break it off."

"I'm sorry," He tried to say.

"It's okay, to be honest I've always hated that little prick," She confessed.

That certainly caught him by surprise.

His shock must have been noticed because she decided to explain, "what? Me cozying up to him and all that? It was just an act. In truth I can barely stand him."

"Why would you act like you like someone you really hate?" He asked her.

She didn't seem eager to reply but told him hesitantly, "since my parents wished it so. They can be very...strict.

"Like beat you?" He asked.

That at least he understood.

"Probably disown me actually," She answered.

"That's just messed up," Harry insisted angrily.

She shrugged and said, "that's the reality of things. As long as I marry well though they'll treat me well."

Now he was starting to realize things might not be so easy after all.

"So why are you telling me all this?" He asked her.

She probably didn't go around telling people all this.

"I'd rather not be giving out secrets like this, and to you no less no offense," Pansy replied, "but I figure it's necessary in order for you to understand my dilemma."

He tried to think before saying, "well maybe we could secretly get divorced so no one would ever know anything happened. Besides we didn't consummate it so I'm guessing it would be a lot easier."

She nodded and said, "that would be preferable but I doubt we'd be able to keep it a secret for long. My parents would question why I've been missing for a month for example. It would get out, but I think in the end it might turn out to not be too bad. I'd likely lose the marriage contract with Draco, but I never wanted it anyway and I'd still be valuable enough for my parents to find someone else, likely with lower social and economic status, but probably not too low."

While he couldn't really understand all the upperclass wizard politics, she didn't seem too displeased which he supposed was good.

After all, she at least got away from having to marry Malfoy. He'd be pretty happy too if he got away with having to marry him."

Another thought came to mind.

"Would there be a divorce settlement?" He questioned.

"I'm not going to just take your money and take advantage of you like that," Pansy insisted, "like I said before I'm not a moneygrubber, besides I wouldn't get it anyway. Right about now the Ministry is clamoring so much to gain your favor they'd do anything for you."

He thought about that. While his regard for Wizard aristocracy and the Ministry fell, his respect for Pansy rose.

They both continued to languish in the water a bit with him halfway tempted to try and learn more about some of the wizard customs she was brought up with but he ultimately decided against it.

Instead he apologized.

"I'm sorry anyway about all this," He told her.

"It's not your fault," Pansy answered, "and besides if anything you got me away from Malfoy. I'm not sure just who else my parents will find for me, but they are bound to be better than him."

"There's that at least," Harry replied, "and next time maybe marry someone you don't hate."

"I don't hate you," Pansy answered him, "a lot of that was an act for Malfoy and for what it's worth I've always thought you were rather nice and a bit cute."

Talk about out there.

"Wow, Pansy Parkinson thinks I'm nice and cute, the sky must be falling," Harry observed.

Pansy laughed at that and almost beyond his control, he found himself liking her laugh, it was warm and melodic and caused her entire face to light up.

It actually made her look...well...better.

There were other words for it he knew, but even in his head he wasn't willing to admit what those words were.

"So who do you think you might get together with after this is over?" Pansy asked him.

He sighed and said, "really no one in particular comes to mind."

"Surely Malfoy isn't right and you aren't just gay?" She suggested.

"Funnily enough I've always speculated the same thing about him," He admitted.

She laughed again at that, reminding him again of what he thought of her laugh.

"Honestly I think he is," Pansy confided, "most of the time I think he just keeps me around just for show just so it appears he isn't."

"Well you can do better than him," He commented.

"You think so?" She asked.

"Yes," Harry answered.

He neglected to mention that that really wasn't saying much.

"You really don't know me though," Pansy pointed out as she pushed a stray lock of hair out of her eyes.

Such an action combined with what she said somehow made her seem...human? Vulnerable?

He really wasn't sure just what the word was.

"I suppose you're right," He was forced to admit, "but I can tell I might have already misjudged you."

"Most people tend to misjudge me, not that I usually give them any reason to believe otherwise," Pansy added.

While true, he suddenly realized Pansy had actually been acting much the way she had merely for survival. If her parents were really that cruel enough to disown their own daughter if she wouldn't marry the guy they wanted her to...well...he really couldn't blame her.

He decided to switch the conversation to happier things.

"Well at least we have this honeymoon island to enjoy," He remarked.

"That we do," She agreed.

He decided to tell her about all the colorful fish he had seen earlier that day...which then led to a conversation about just what she had been doing.

It should have felt weird that he and Pansy were having an actually decent conversation...but oddly enough it wasn't. If this was the real Pansy, he was forced to admit she was actually rather smart and easy to talk to once they had the more difficult conversation taken care of.

Finally however she commented, "I'm sorry you missed your birthday and had the next day turn out like it did."

"Don't worry about it," Harry answered, "I really haven't gotten the chance to celebrate most of my birthdays."

What with always being at the Dursleys every year for his birthday that was no surprise. At least his 11th had been pretty good, having found out he was a wizard and spent the day in Diagon Alley with Hagrid.

"Well maybe we could do something tomorrow to make up for it," She suggested.

He gave her an odd look and asked, "are you sure you could stand spending a day with me?"

"Only if you could with me," Pansy reminded him.

After thinking about it, he said, "all right, I guess we can do something."

With that settled they talked for a bit more before they both retired to bed.

As he tried to get some sleep that night, he was feeling actually a lot better about things in general. Some things of course, like learning Pansy's parents were pretty much jerks wasn't all that great, but she at least didn't seem to upset anymore and at least they were talking and not avoiding each other.

He supposed it was at least a start.

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	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The next morning he woke up feeling actually somewhat excited to celebrate a bit belated birthday with Pansy.

Sure it wouldn't be much of a party or celebration and Pansy still probably wouldn't be at the top of the list of people he'd want to share a birthday with, but at the very least she would be better than the Dursleys who he would have been sharing his birthday with.

Besides, it was admittedly rather nice that she had made such a gesture.

That morning they had breakfast together (she let him pick the breakfast) and then she announced she had a surprise for him.

Wondering what the surprise was, he closed his eyes as she asked and then opened them again once she said it was okay.

To his delight, laying before him on the table were all of his birthday presents, the ones he hadn't had a chance to open...for obvious reasons.

They were still sitting there totally unwrapped.

"Tipsy had then stored away somewhere then forgot about them," Pansy explained.

He found the one addressed to Hermione and decided to open that one first.

"You don't happen to have thing for her do you?" Pansy questioned as he was just untying the bow that came with it.

"Why would you ask that?" He countered back, "we're just friends."

She shrugged and said, "well you're good friends obviously so I was just wondering, especially after you chose to open her present first."

"I don't have a thing for Hermione," Harry replied wanting to make sure he was clear, "I only chose her present first because I already know what it is from when she told me."

Pansy pursed her lips then apologized.

Turning back to opening his present he was unsurprised to find that it was a copy of Hogwarts: A History.

"Just what I needed," He commented, "and the sad thing is I'll probably eventually get bored enough here at some point to read it."

"I'll probably want to borrow it too," Pansy replied, "the only books that seem to be here are only a few spellbooks."

After finishing unwrapping Hermione's, he opened Hagrid's which turned out to be a mokeskin overcoat.

He put it on feeling like a king in the thick fur.

After just a few minutes however he realized kings either sweat a lot or never wore such clothes in tropical climates like this one he thought as he took it off.

Placing it onto the back of his chair, he reasoned it would at least be useful at Hogwarts in the wintertime.

Next came his present from Ron.

Ron had evidently wanted to get him some Chocolate Frogs, except there was only half a frog left and crumbs of the other two.

He guessed based on the half a frog left that Ron had eaten the others.

Luna to his surprise had also sent him something, a butterbeer cork necklace.

Harry expected Pansy to laugh or something as he admitted where it had come from, but then she commented, "actually that's kind of cool. I've never actually had someone make me a present before."

"Never?" He asked in shock, "but you always seem to have such nice clothes."

"Simply buying something is a lot easier than making it," Pansy remarked without saying more.

He turned back to his last present.

He'd actually held onto it until last and at the bottom of the pile, noticing the name on it.

"Who is that from?" Pansy asked now curious, unable to see the name from her vantage point.

"From you," He told her, "at least that's what it says on the card.

She looked surprised at that.

"I didn't get you a present though Harry," Pansy admitted, "I probably should have but I didn't."

"Well if you didn't send me it, who...?" He questioned.

Now perplexed wondering just where the present had come from...and if it was safe to open in case it was part of the elaborate scheme of the person messing with them, he ultimately decided to open it, figuring if it was cursed or something, the person could have cursed him much more easily than with some random present he might never have gotten a chance to open.

It was a set of books, he realized.

Diaries to be more specific, with the word Diary written across the front.

Yet as he opened up the first one to find out exactly whose it was, he gasped in shock at the name at the top.

"What is it?" Pansy asked, now extremely curious.

"It's my mother's diaries," Harry admitted as he held the first one up, practically hugging it.

These were more precious to him than diamonds he thought. Just how on earth they had been obtained or who from he really didn't care at the moment.

He'd always wanted to know more about his mother. His father at least he could always talk to Sirius about...had been able to talk to Sirius about, he realized with a twinge of sadness, but his mother was still very much an enigma to him.

Well these diaries would hopefully be able to give him a much greater knowledge and appreciation for her.

He usually wasn't too emotional but he started to cry as he started to read the first page, an entry clear back just before his mother started Hogwarts as she speculated about what going to a magic school would be like.

So engrossed was he that he almost forgot Pansy was still there.

"I'm glad you like it Harry," Pansy replied.

"Thanks for finding my presents for me," He said honestly and gratefully as he looked back up at her, "I'd never have gotten these otherwise.

"No problem," She answered, sounding pleased that he was pleased.

Then he did something neither he nor her was expecting as he gave her a hug.

It should have felt awkward, but he supposed as happy as he was, he really didn't care.

She let him hug her for a second before drawing away.

"Okay, maybe I made you a little too happy," Pansy claimed.

"Sorry about that," He apologized, "I just got a little caught up in the moment that's all."

Pansy let him continue to read while she went into the bedroom.

One of the first things that he learned from reading was that evidently his mother had been a very dedicated journal writer (totally unlike himself) and kept things pretty detailed although he found her to be very entertaining in her writing.

He learned all about her going to Hogwarts, what she thought of it, her classes, her teachers, it was highly enlightening and he found himself actually laughing or nodding along when she got to certain things that he could identify with.

Evidently she had felt rather awkward and out of place and worried she might not make any friends too at first.

Finally however Pansy interrupted him as she asked, "would you maybe want to go swimming with me or do you want to continue reading?"

He looked up from the journal to note that Pansy was already dressed in a light green bikini and ready to go, her skin only slightly tanned from the sun.

Of course he'd seen Pansy arrayed in such a way before over the past few days, but this was the first time he'd really bothered to look.

She had rather attractive but not particularly noticeably so body he decided. Not fat or thin, tall or short, but her legs at least were long and smooth, a nearly flat stomach, and her breasts, while not large, were at least good enough to make him give them more than a passing glance.

Unfortunately his attention did not go unnoticed by her.

"You aren't checking me out are you?" Pansy asked him, having evidently caught him.

"No," He insisted, now looking away.

"Good," She replied, as if practically warning him she would kill him if he was.

Deciding that he ought to try and redeem himself...as he was so clearly not checking her out, he told her, "I'll go get dressed then."

After doing so, he headed out with her as they made a sand castle.

They didn't really say much as they worked other than to perhaps suggest adding on additions to their castle.

With all the time that they had, they decided to make it very extensive, multi-roomed and several storied with 4 turret towers on each corner.

Yet neither of them seemed inclined to finish and he suspected perhaps the reason why.

Neither of them would have admitted it he was sure, but they really didn't want to be alone.

Finally however he came up with a way around that, "I think I saw a reef the last time I was underwater exploring but it seemed a bit too far away from shore for me to risk doing so on my own in case anything happened. Would you mind going with me?"

By suggesting that he needed to have someone with him in order to do something, it made asking her easier.

"Sure," She answered easily, perhaps a bit relieved.

Or perhaps he just imagined that last part.

They both took some gillyweed before going into the water, swimming out towards the reef he had seen.

As soon as they got there, he was entirely impressed by not only the fish, but the beautiful coral that seemed to match the fish in being every color of the rainbow.

He heard Pansy mumble something, but he really couldn't tell what it was from her being underwater.

If she had said it was beautiful...well it really was.

They spent the next couple of hours down there exploring, retaking gillyweed again when they ran out.

By the time they resurfaced, they were however exhausted as they went and lay down on beach chairs to rest a bit while they had Tipsy bring them some drinks, Pansy unknowingly showing off her body to him again.

He just shook his head and tried to rid himself of such thoughts.

"That was fun," He admitted.

"Yeah," She agreed, "we'll have to do that again."

Taking advantage of that, he said, "well I have to admit, maybe...it's more fun doing some things when you're not alone."

She looked over at him and coyly asked, "are you saying that you enjoy my company Potter?"

He could have simply said, "no way, or only if I was really desperate" or something like that, but instead he chose not to and told her, "only if you enjoy mine."

Pansy actually smiled a bit at that before saying, "well I suppose if my company doesn't bother you anymore then it doesn't bother me to have yours."

He grinned, accepting that as the best he might get from her.

She then surprisingly asked, "so what do you want to do now then. We are still celebrating your birthday after all."

Harry thought for a moment on that.

He really couldn't think of anything other than a game of wizard chess, but he still suggested it.

"You're going to regret that," Pansy insisted with a grin.

"Why?" He asked her.

"You'll see," She responded mysteriously.

When they went to go play, he soon found out the reason.

The girl seemed to be an absolute master of the game.

After beating him soundly their first game, he had to admit, "I'd say you're even better than Ron, and he's the best I'd even seen. I'd love to see you beat him."

As they reset for their next game, she frowned and said, "I don't think your friend Ron would ever be willing to play against me to find out."

Admittedly she did have a point.

Ron was totally convinced that Slytherins were all bad news and Pansy was probably just below Malfoy in his ranking of the worst of them.

If Ron were here right now and saw them actually having a civilized game and conversation with each other he would likely explode with anger.

"Yeah, I suppose you're right about that," He finally confessed, "he probably wouldn't even like it to know we were playing."

"Yet you still are," She observed.

"Ron doesn't know you and he isn't here so I'd hardly say his opinion matters," Harry answered, "besides I'm enjoying myself anyway."

She nodded at that and said, "perhaps you're right. I know plenty of people who wouldn't be happy either. I can't imagine how they'll react if and when they were to learn we got married."

"Ron would probably have a heart attack," Harry replied.

"I'd love to see the expression on his face," Pansy claimed with a mischievous grin.

"So would I in that one second before he killed me," He responded.

They both laughed at that before Pansy got serious again.

"So what are you going to tell him then?" She asked, "I'd imagine you aren't going to keep it from him at least...and Hermione too."

"I'll probably tell them," He admitted, "as gently as I can, but I will. Exactly what I'll tell them however I have no idea."

"Tell them I forced you against your will or gave you a love potion maybe?" Pansy suggested.

He was surprised she would make such a suggestion.

"I'd never do that!" He insisted.

"Well it might help them understand," Pansy reminded him, "and they would probably believe me capable of doing it."

"Look this isn't your fault anymore than it is mine," He argued, "they'll just have to deal with it like we're having to deal with it."

She seemed touched by that.

"Don't worry, I won't lie either," She answered, "at least my friends Daphne and Tracey won't mind. They're still crushing on you I'm pretty sure."

"They are?" He asked in surprise.

"Just don't tell them I said that," Pansy asked of him, "they'd never admit it to you."

"They sure don't act like they like me," Harry observed.

"Well it's not like you'd ever have reciprocated with them being Slytherins, they just didn't want to look stupid," She pointed out.

That stopped him.

He supposed she again had a point. What with being friends with Ron and the general animosity that existed between Gryffindors and Slytherins he'd never have even thought of dating a Slytherin...much less married one as he now was.

"Perhaps you're right, but I still shouldn't judge someone based solely off of the house that they're in," Harry was forced to admit, teaching himself a lesson in the process.

Pansy seemed to study him as if testing him for his honesty before replying, "maybe you're not the only one who needs to learn that."

That essentially ended that conversation while they finished up another game of chess before mutually deciding to go bother Tipsy about some dinner.

By the end of the day, they were both tired, eventually ending as they both stood in front of the bedroom awkwardly.

"So...happy birthday," Pansy congratulated him.

"Thanks," He muttered back, "um...good night."

"Good night," She managed to politely answer before retiring to bed.

He went to bed too, or in his case the couch, but it seemed almost as soon as he fell asleep, a nightmare awaited him.

It was another one about Sirius' death, he'd had a lot of them over the summer, but this was the first one he'd had here.

He woke up screaming.

Almost as soon as he did, Pansy came out, seeming rather annoyed.

"What gives!" She demanded, "could you have kept it down? I was trying to sleep."

"Sorry," He apologized, "I had a nightmare."

It seemed she was just going to ignore him and go back into her room but then at the last second she asked curiously, "what was the nightmare about?"

He sighed, not wanting to tell Pansy the whole truth, but he admitted, "I saw someone I really care about recently get murdered right in front of me."

Pansy pursed her lips as if trying to figure out what to say, then she looked right back at him, concern now reflected in her face as she said simply, "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," He answered, trying not to look weak or vulnerable again in front of her.

She however sat down on the couch beside him, as if proving she did have a heart and told him, "no, it's clearly not okay, is it?"

As he gazed into her eyes, now only a foot from his own, he saw compassion in them, as if she...well cared for him.

Yet she'd never have admitted it if he'd questioned her on it he was sure.

Still it was enough for him to answer back.

"No," He was forced to admit bitterly, "it's awful and no one seems to really understand."

Pansy then gravely answered, "unfortunately I do. I lost my younger brother when I was 10."

Up until now he'd never known Pansy had had a brother but then again he had to confess there was a lot he didn't know about her.

"I'm sorry," He replied, "were you two close?"

Pansy sighed and confessed, "not particularly so, but he was still my brother. He was a year younger than me, but the way my parents doted on him you would have thought he was the baby of the family. He was my father's heir apparent, destined to take over the family business and live out his legacy. Then of course my brother Ivan got sick and..."

She stopped, either because she was getting emotional or because she didn't want to admit anymore than that.

Yet in either case, he was touched with what she had shared.

He finally decided to open up about Sirius, not the fact that he was his godfather and definitely not that he was the infamous Sirius Black, but something.

My friend..." He began.

"You aren't going to get all emotional are you?" Pansy interrupted.

Now a bit annoyed with her, "if you really don't want to listen, then..."

"No, that's okay, I'm listening," She promised, "just if you need a shoulder to cry on use the couch and please don't hug me again."

"I'm sorry again about that," He apologized for that morning.

So he began explaining to her what he could about Sirius, less than everything but far more than he had planned on.

It admittedly felt good to have someone to talk to about that, someone who had lost a loved one themselves.

Pansy to her credit seemed to be very understanding and patient with him through their conversation, even deciding to share her personal experiences with him about her brother.

Evidently he'd gotten sick, a wizard disease that even magic didn't have a cure for even though her parents had spent a great deal of money trying to find one.

He got the sense that they would have spent far less money and effort on her had Pansy been the one to get sick.

Whether she knew it or not, she was opening up to him and he felt like he understood her better and just why she sometimes acted the way that she did.

He would admit that he did in fact shed a few tears when talking about Sirius, but...he managed to mostly keep himself under control.

As for Pansy well, perhaps it was just his imagination, but it looked like she had been crying for a second too.

All in all though he felt better once they got done talking, with Pansy even telling him to let her know if he had anymore nightmares.

Nevertheless he was able to sleep peacefully after that.

MarriageParadoxMarriageParadoxMarriageParadox

Dear Diary,

This is Pansy again, or at least I think it's still me. I'm starting to think the sun is starting to fry my brain while here.

Yesterday was officially Day 5 of my incarceration, I mean honeymoon and I have to admit that it was by far the best even if I'd never admit that to Harry.

I say Harry not Potter because it's just somehow easier to think of him as just Harry and not Potter. Like I said the sun might be starting to fry my brain.

I think I'd better start at the beginning of my very long day.

First we managed to get through breakfast which was a miracle in and of itself, but then the day just kept getting weirder.

I managed to find Harry's presents and give them to him. I suppose I could have gotten him one too, but that would suggest that I actually cared enough about him to get him one and simply finding the presents was present enough I figured.

So he opened them all until he got to his last one.

Curiously it had my name as the one who had got it for him, but I clearly didn't. Probably just whoever decided to pull the world's most evil prank on us deciding to mess with us again I'm sure.

When he realized it was his mother's diaries...well he just got all emotional and pathetic and...all right I found it very sweet too.

He obviously cares about his mother and wants to learn more about her not that I can blame him, I just hope that he isn't too disappointed. I actually know my mother and I sort of wish I didn't.

Him receiving that present was all well and good I guess until he lost self-control and decided to hug me. I'd like to say that I was totally offended and slapped him, but I didn't. It actually felt...well rather nice. I mean not "oh my gosh" Harry Potter is hugging me, but it was still nice. I can't remember the last time anyone hugged me.

I don't think he was really hugging me though, more just expressing his appreciation for having received such a wonderful gift. Still I kind of wish I hadn't told him not to hug me later on. If he had, I'm not sure I would have minded all that much.

At any rate, while Potter, I mean Harry was busy reading I went and got dressed to go swimming.

So I ended up coming out and I caught him totally checking me out, the dweeb.

Oh, he tried to deny it, but I know he was. Fortunately he never caught me doing the same thing later on.

Once again, loss of sanity here, remember? I mean he is cute, not even I can deny that, but he's still a Gryffindork, noble and stupid.

Besides it's not like anything would ever happen between us. He may not hate my guts, but we could never be even friends I don't think. Getting us married was seriously a cruel prank.

Oh, my parents would still be happy if they knew, marrying The Harry Potter. It would be like a dream come true to them, with me getting just about the most desirable marriage candidate I could possibly get.

However they'd still never look at the circumstances and care that we don't actually love each other or any of what I think marriage should entail. It would be all about what marriage can do for you as far as business and connections and...well I'm not going to bother writing about the details.

So yeah, he's cute and admittedly even nicer than I thought, I never really thought of him all that badly in the first place not that he would really know just how much.

I've been trying to keep a lid on my emotions and what I had to admit to him, but it's getting kind of hard and I definitely way over did it today. Caring is weakness as Father always says. I almost got through it today...almost.

The rest of the day we spent together and I'm glad that he seems to enjoy my company. For last several days I was thinking he'd barely be able to stand me, but I guess he appears to have had a change of heart, not that I've done all that much to change his opinion. He even acknowledged perhaps he was wrong about Slytherins, and well, I have to admit the same about Gryffindors. Sure, he's kind of sentimental and brave and all that, but...I kind of like it. It's really refreshing to be around someone like him. I mean I'm not saying, I don't know what I'm saying, but anyway like I said I almost made it through, but then he woke up having had a stupid nightmare screaming and when I came out rather annoyed with him, he had to go and tell me that it was because of someone that he'd lost.

I probably should have just left him then, but I couldn't, not after what happened with Ivan. So we got to talking and...well I just shared a lot with him. I wasn't planning on it, it just happened and admittedly it felt good. Maybe he'll find a way to use it against me or something, but I don't get the sense that's something that he does. I felt like he actually cared about what I had to say and that was pretty powerful to me. I couldn't even help caring about him in return. It was almost like time slowed down and I felt like I wasn't myself, like I was someone I've always wanted to be but couldn't. Anyway, I think I'm done writing for now before I start going too crazy. I'll write more tomorrow.

Pansy

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	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Pansy wearily ascended the hill, her feet already hurting.

It had been Harry's idea to have them go on a hike through the jungle and up to the top of some hill and while she had initially agreed, she was starting to regret it.

Hiking was not something that she had admittedly ever done before and in the words of her mother was considered: "totally unladylike."

Well her dear old mother would likely be quite unhappy to find her daughter in such a state.

Still she wasn't about to turn back or perhaps ask Harry for help, it simply showed weakness and she could not be weak...even if her parents pretty much had already decided she was weak even before she was born with a name like Pansy.

Seriously they couldn't come up with a better name then Pansy? Sure it was her name, but if she had had a choice in the matter she certainly wouldn't have chosen that name. Things were hard enough on her as it was.

Most of her life she'd spent trying to please her parents, but ever since getting here...well things seemed to be changing and she couldn't deny that she was enjoying them.

It was now Day 10 since getting here on this island as she would record later in her diary, but it felt like a lot had already happened.

She could honestly say she'd never enjoyed herself as much as she had ever since Harry and her started spending time together. Neither would admit that they were enjoying each other's company so much, but if she was honest with herself, she rather liked him, as a person, as a kindred spirit, as a potential friend, and well she just plain liked him.

Admitting it wasn't exactly easy and at times she just wanted to tear her hair out at finding herself thinking about him in such a way, but apparently the heart wanted what it wanted.

He could be so kind and fun to be with and...well now she was just getting sappy.

She decided to risk looking over at him again as he was just ahead of her along the narrow trail.

Choosing to follow him was not simply because she was slower, but because she liked watching him without him realizing.

It wasn't because he had a rather attractive backside (which he did) but because she wanted to study him and figure out why she found herself liking him so much.

It wasn't because of why her parents might like him, with him being rich or famous, in her experience those things usually caused people to be rather horrible human beings.

Usually at least.

What she did like about him was just how safe she found him, like she knew he'd never hurt her but be there to comfort her. Nor did he seem to care if she showed weakness or not.

Instead he seemed to genuinely care about her which was new territory for her.

Nobody had ever actually cared about her before, not really.

There were even moments when she would actually find herself wanting him to hug her again.

Such thoughts of course she kept to herself, not daring to tell him.

Besides even if she did like him or even if he even liked her nothing would come of it. They were just too different and he simply deserved someone better than her.

At that moment, Harry happened to glance back while she turned her eyes downwards towards the ground so that he wouldn't realize she had been staring at him.

"You need a break?" He asked her.

"I'm fine," She tried to insist, not willing to let him know how tired she really was.

He seemed to study her before saying, "you certainly don't look fine."

Unfortunately she really couldn't hide the sweat or her labored breaths.

"I'm fine!" She snapped at him.

He however stopped and said, "well I'm tired so I'd still like to stop."

She realized he was actually just offering her a way out in order to save her stupid pride.

"Well I suppose if you need a break then..." She suggested, trying to make it seem like she was taking a break for his sake.

He nodded before going to sit on a nearby fallen tree.

Since it appeared to be the only thing to sit on around, she was forced to sit next to him on it.

How horrible, she thought sarcastically.

After a minute of them sitting, she decided to try and be less prideful as she confessed, "all right, maybe I was a bit tired."

He smiled and said, "I like it when you're honest."

Sighing, she told him, "honesty is a bit hard for me when showing weakness."

"I already figured that out," Harry answered her.

"I'm afraid I'm not as humble as you," Pansy replied.

"Yep, because I'm the most humble person on earth," Harry countered sarcastically.

She laughed a bit at that before deciding to again be honest, "I have to admit I've been having a good time while here with you."

"So have I," He agreed, "it's weird...but good."

"Are you saying I'm weird?" She coyly asked him.

"Yep," He instantly agreed teasingly.

Laughing again, she remarked, "all right, I guess I'm weird then. I don't have a problem with that."

As close as they were while she laughed she noted that Harry was staring at her, probably because he said she looked beautiful when she laughed.

"He likes you," A thought came to her mind.

She thought back, "no he doesn't. I'm not really all that pretty or nice or..."

"He still likes you and you like him," Her thoughts countered back.

Unbidden her eyes turned to his lips.

All she would have to do would be to lean forward and...

Shaking her head, she turned back to looking at the ground as she then asked him, "so how much farther do you think it is, Mr. Potter?"

"Probably another 30 minutes is all," Harry said before adding, "Mrs. Potter."

She gave him a cold stare as if highly offended as she answered, "oh, you so did not just call me that!"

Even as she said it, she tried to ignore the butterflies that were doing flips in her stomach at being called that.

"Well it's true," He pointed out.

"All right boy-who-lived," She countered back.

"I do believe I'm a man now," Harry commented.

"All right, man-who-lived then," Pansy corrected.

"I'll take it," He agreed.

Following yet another bit of silence, Harry asked surprisingly, "do you think we could ever be friends Pansy?"

No, I want to be your girlfriend, that same annoying voice in her head suggested to her.

Ignoring it yet again, she said, "are you sure you could stand being friends with a Slytherin and your soon to be ex-wife?"

"Only if you could stand a Gryffindor and your ex-husband," He shot back.

"Well I guess I'd better be your friend then," She replied, "you'll need at least someone who will tell you the truth about yourself and keep you humble."

"Oh I quite agree," Harry answered.

"I guess we're friends then," Pansy summed up.

"Yep," He agreed.

So now they were friends. That was incredibly easy. No vetting by her parents, no carefully supervised playdates beforehand, just like that they were friends.

She rather liked this way better.

Besides if they were going to spend an entire month together on an island they might as well at least be friends.

Now being friends was something that she could handle.

"Would you like me to carry you up the rest of the way?" Harry offered.

Her eyes drifted to his shoulders, imagining riding piggyback on them. That would be so...

Then she thought of the fact that that was likely not what Harry was referring to, probably levitating her or something.

"I guess I can't hide the fact that hiking isn't my thing," Pansy replied.

"Nope," Harry responded.

Just as she had suspected, he levitated her with his wand, keeping her body perhaps 10 feet from him.

It admittedly felt weird having her body moved around in such a way, but she managed to just let it happen.

Doing so of course required Harry to keep a steady eye on her to keep from breaking the spell and her falling, however she ultimately decided to let him stare at her.

Still she couldn't help fantasizing that he was checking her out again and finding her attractive.

Merlin, she was seriously getting messed up, she thought.

This morning she'd even checked herself over for signs of a love potion as that at least would give a solid explanation for all these stupid feelings.

Unfortunately it was evidently just her.

Finally they got to the top of the hill and he let her down gently.

Now walking upon unsteady feet, she looked around with him as the entire island now lay all around them in every direction.

The sight was admittedly rather beautiful.

They could however see the house along with the shed, the beach they used, much of the forest and...a ship.

"It's a ship," He commented excitedly, "it appears to be over on the other side of the island."

"Maybe someone is on board or it has some way to contact the outside world," She suggested.

He was already nodding as he seemed to be looking for a way down to it.

"If we were to leave now, we could probably get there before nightfall," He remarked.

That stopped her for a second. If they were to get help and have someone get them off the island then...her time with Harry would be over.

Sure at the beginning she would have jumped at any chance of leaving early, but now, well she was really enjoying herself and she wasn't sure she'd want it to end so quickly.

Still if that was what he really wanted then she would try to help.

"We could just get Tipsy to transport us there," She suggested.

"Good idea," He agreed as he called, "Tipsy!"

However after waiting for a minute and calling twice more, Tipsy failed to materialize.

"Asleep maybe?" He observed.

"Possibly," She answered, although a bit worried. Having a house elf of her own back home, she knew that they usually responded to calls for them even when asleep.

Well until she woke up, it appeared they were on their own.

"I guess I could carry you again then," He recommended to her.

"It's all right, I'm feeling much better now," Pansy insisted, not wanting him to have to do too much for her.

He nodded before heading back out again with her following behind him.

Unfortunately they soon realized that the trail that they were taking did not go directly to the ship they had seen as it ended up stopping abruptly at the ocean on the other side of the island.

Harry looked it over as he then said, "well I suppose if we just keep following the beach down that way, we should eventually reach the ship.

As they walked along however, they ended up spotting some girls currently not that far out in the water.

"It must be the owners of the boat!" He said excitedly as they ran over to them.

However it wasn't until they were as close as they could get to them without actually going into the water that they realized what they were.

"Mermaids," She remarked.

There were 3 of them, one with dark brown hair, one a blonde, and one a redhead. The reason she'd even recognized them as mermaids was because she noted their green tinged skin, their tails still submerged underwater.

From what she knew of mermaids, it varied on how they acted towards humans, with some being quite hostile, to others being quite friendly, and others thinking that they were being friendly while they were actually being hostile, and others trying to be hostile when actually they were being friendly.

In short they were a rather confusing species.

The mermaids began having a conversation as if they weren't even there.

"They're talking about us," The brunette pointed out.

"They must be here for their honeymoon," The blonde answered.

"Well the wife is rather ugly, but the husband is pretty cute," The redhead observed with a sigh as she looked over at Harry.

Great, just what she needed, a bunch of mermaids thinking Harry was cute.

She chastised herself, Harry wasn't hers even if they were technically married. If he wanted another girl then...well at least one with legs anyway, that was his decision.

Hopefully he didn't have a thing for half-fish though.

Harry however asked them, noting that they were speaking English, "would you happen to have seen a ship nearby?"

"He wants to find a ship," The blond said to her fellow mermaids, "what do you think Coral? Should we help him?"

"Kind of silly if you ask me, what he should be asking for is a tail, way better than ships," Coral, who happened to be the brunette said, "what do you think Shell?"

"He's cute, I guess I could lead him there for a kiss, I've always wanted to kiss a human," Shell answered.

"The merchieftan wouldn't approve of that," Coral warned, "and I doubt neither would his wife."

"That's why I want to kiss him," Shell replied, "besides his wife is ugly, I'm way better looking than her. He just doesn't know what he's missing."

Shell finally decided they were worth addressing directly as she announced, "I'll help you find your ship humans...if you'll agree to kiss me."

Pansy, who had quickly decided that the mermaids were rather airheaded (or rather waterheaded), decided to mess with her and say, "all right, I'll kiss you."

Shell the mermaid frowned as she argued, "I meant your husband silly."

"He's not my husband!" Pansy insisted.

"Ooh," Shell remarked, "that's even better. That means he's available. Sisters help me with him."

Quick as a flash, all 3 girls swam over to them as they stood just at the edge of the water.

As surprised as they were and just how fast the mermaids were, they managed to grab Harry's leg even as he tried to break free.

Unfortunately mermaids she knew had a very strong grip and their were 3 of them trying to pull him.

In just another second Harry was totally pulled underwater.

As well meaning as the mermaids might be in just trying to get a kiss, she recognized that the danger was very real. Many times a person was known to drown when the mermaid who had grabbed them had forgotten humans couldn't breathe underwater and kept them under too long.

She tried to think of what to do. Her knowledge about mermaids came almost entirely from school but she still had no idea what she could do to stop them.

Then something she had read came to mind: mermaids were vain.

Now getting an idea, she found a seashell and transfigured it into a comb.

It looked rather pretty even if it likely wasn't strong enough to last very long, but it would have to do.

Pansy then called out, "come look at this beautiful comb I have!"

Hopefully the mermaids would hear.

Apparently they did because all 3 resurfaced with Harry in their arms.

He instantly started coughing up water.

"Ooh, you're right it is a pretty comb," Coral observed.

"I'll trade you for it," Pansy offered, "it for my husband back."

"I thought you said he wasn't your husband?" Shell objected.

"Well I lied," Pansy confessed.

"How do we know you aren't lying now just so you can have him all to yourself?" Shell countered suspiciously.

It was a good point, but fortunately Harry answered for her.

"No, she's right girls," Harry admitted, "she really is my wife and while I'm sure you're all great, I just love her too much."

"Oh, how romantic," Coral replied as she sighed.

As for herself, even though she was sure that Harry was just trying to sell it, her heart nearly jumped out of her chest at being told he loved her.

Shell however looked more skeptical as she stated, "you should prove it by kissing each other. If it's a good kiss then we'll know you were telling the truth."

Of course she nearly fainted at that, but somehow managed to say, "all right, bring him to the shore and I'll kiss him."

"No, you've got to swim out to us," Shell answered, proving she wasn't at least a total idiot. If they had put him on shore then she had been hoping to simply draw her wand and force them away from him long enough for him to escape.

Sighing, she got into the water and began swimming out to them.

When she got there she found Harry still there and Shell looking smug.

Oh was she really about to kiss him, she thought to herself.

YES YOU ARE! The voice inside her head said.

She tried to put on her best face in order to make it seem more plausible but on the inside she was a bundle of nerves.

Even so she bravely leaned in towards him, closer and closer as a million thoughts rushed through her, some of them wanting her to back out of this...and yet...then their lips met.

To describe the sensation would have been impossible, but it felt very, very good like this was the culmination of everything she ever wanted in life all wrapped into one magnificent wonderful kiss.

The mermaids who were still watching forgotten, she found her lips begin to move of their own accord and to his surprise so did his.

Merlin it felt good, like she'd died gone to heaven, then realized heaven wasn't good enough and found out that kissing Harry was better.

That's what he was doing, with what little conscious thought he still had, she was kissing Harry, and at the moment she had absolutely no problem with that.

Then they broke apart as Harry was now looking at her with an extremely shocked but pleased look on his face.

"Wow!" Coral observed, "that was the best kiss I've ever seen!"

"No way they couldn't love each other after a kiss like that," The still as yet unnamed blonde agreed.

Even Shell was forced to admit, "I suppose you really were telling the truth...even if I still think she's ugly."

Pansy handed the seashell comb to Coral before beginning to help Harry swim back to the beach.

The mermaids however swam beneath the waves.

"Well that was...um...something," Harry stated.

"You're welcome," She answered him.

Once they got to shore they used drying charms to dry themselves off.

"For the record, thank you for saving me," Harry thanked her, "and by the way you're way prettier than those mermaids were."

She couldn't help blushing at that.

"You really think so?" She asked him.

"Yeah," He admitted.

Of course she was competing against girls who were green and had a tail instead of legs, but she'd take what she could get.

Neither of them said anything for awhile after that, still thinking about the kiss.

Or at least she was and she was hoping he was.

They had been hoping to reach the ship before nightfall, but what with not being able to take a direct route and the little stop they had made with the mermaids, it was already getting dark.

Add to that the fact that Tipsy still wasn't responding to their calls for her and it meant that they would likely be having to spend the night on the ship, whether there was someone there or not.

She figured that there would at least be beds and some blankets on board hopefully.

Yet when they finally got to the ship they found that it appeared to have already been gutted.

From what they could tell, it appeared to have once been part of the honeymoon island experience, a yacht for honeymooners to sail on and enjoy themselves, but evidently it had fallen into disrepair and nobody had bothered to fix it, instead just taking everything out of it and leaving it.

At first she couldn't even find a decent place to sleep until she found an old bed that evidently pulled down from a wall.

It had probably been left only for the simple reason that there didn't seem to be an easy way to rip it out.

Still, it was a bed and better than nothing even if there were no blankets.

"I'll let you have the bed," He suggested as he seemed to be trying to make a bed out of some old garbage bags he had found.

He was currently trying to stuff them full of whatever else left on the ship that could be considered anywhere near soft.

That got to her. No way was she sleeping in a bed while he slept on garbage bags.

"We could share," She offered.

He looked over at her and asked, "are you sure you'd be okay with that?"

"Yes," She agreed.

He made no further argument, probably a bit relieved not to have to sleep on garbage bags.

Harry got onto the other side of the bed, seeming to be trying to respect her side.

This was a bit cliché, she thought not for the first time. Trapped on a deserted island, having to sleep near each other...

Of course those romance books she had read had left out the part about waking up married to the guy, the island being a honeymoon island, the mermaids, or the fact that they were wizards. However according to how things were supposed to go, Harry would be suggesting that they snuggle together in order to preserve body heat.

Nor could she deny at the moment she was wanting him to.

Any minute now, she thought.

Just another minute, she thought again once that minute came up.

After 10 minutes had gone by, however she just gave up.

No cliches for her, she supposed. Despite the absolutely amazing kiss earlier and the obvious compromising situation they were in, she supposed it just wasn't meant to be.

It figured. Girls like her simply didn't deserve guys like Harry anyway.

Finally she just tried to get some sleep as best as she could.

The next morning however as if the universe was still messing with her, she found herself hugging Harry as he hugged her back.

Her first inclination was to move away but then she began to realize just how...comforting and nice it was.

It was of course an accident, and he'd probably move away from her once she woke up and she'd pretend to be mad at him but she couldn't deny that she'd secretly been wanting it.

It felt so good to be hugging Harry.

The time ticked on with her simply enjoying being in his arms when she realized with a start that Harry was no longer breathing like he was sleeping.

He had to now be awake yet...was still choosing to continue cuddling with her.

Harry secretly was enjoying cuddling with her too, that now familiar thought process told her.

So she just allowed it to happen.

Finally however he opted to break the silence by stating, "it's not that I'm not enjoying this but I really do have to go to the bathroom."

She blushed quite a bit before saying pretending to be angry as she moved away from him, "what are you talking about? I just woke up like 2 seconds ago to find you totally getting way too close."

"I'm sorry if I don't believe you," He pointed out, "but I'm pretty sure you already knew that."

Harry got up to go somewhere before returning a few minutes later.

By then she had decided to just confront him and talk about how they were feeling as she asked, "what's wrong with us Harry?"

He let out a long sigh before admitting, "I don't know. Maybe it's just because we both have backgrounds where we didn't get hugs or shows of affection and now we're just starved for it, or maybe it's just this being a honeymoon island and we're both married, or somebody has been giving us love potions or something."

"I thought of all those things too," Pansy answered, "yet it still doesn't really explain everything."

"No I suppose it doesn't," He was forced to admit, "I think the real truth that we're both avoiding is that you like me and I like you."

So there it was, all out in the open.

"Well how do you feel about that then?" She questioned him.

"Confused," He was forced to admit, "I mean I probably would have been able to ignore it but after that kiss yesterday..."

She couldn't help smile as she confessed, "it was really good wasn't it?"

"Just about gave me and those mermaids a heart attack," Harry agreed with a wry grin.

"Can we make a deal?" Pansy suggested, "we agree to be totally honest right now?"

"Agreed," Harry said.

So she took a deep breath, summoned whatever courage she didn't know she had and began to tell her her feelings.

It began to come out in a rush, causing her to be almost embarrassed at just how open she was being, yet now that it was being released she just couldn't help it.

Once she had finished however he looked stunned even as she waited for him to say something or perhaps explain how he was feeling.

Instead, he did neither as he suddenly leaned in and kissed her again.

This one was a quick one, but oh how wonderful it was.

Now looking at him, she asked, "what does this mean?"

Harry could only shrug as he admitted, "I don't know, but I'd like to find out."

She wasn't sure how to reply to that or what she would do, but finally she just took his hand and said, "then I think I'll just have to take the journey with you as well."

Please Review!


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

They were once again hiking on day 20, but this time side by side holding hands and in search of buried treasure.

Or so the treasure map they had told them. While that certainly sounded cool, Pansy was pretty sure it was just a honeymoon gimmick especially since it had come from Tipsy while she gave them their dinner last night.

Still they both figured it would be a fun afternoon activity.

As they walked, Pansy decided to ask Harry a question.

"Do you want to sleep with me?"

Not to her surprise, he nearly choked on the granola bar he'd been eating.

Oh, how she loved messing with Harry a bit sometimes as she smiled real wide at his reaction.

Still it took him only a second to figure out what she really meant.

"You really don't have to ask you know," He pointed out, "we sleep together every night."

That they did. Ever since the night spent on the ship they now shared the bed. Cuddling in each others' arms was something that they both enjoyed which was surprising considering their admitted lack of physical contact with anyone before.

Perhaps this was just making up for it. She felt safe and just so right whenever she was in his arms, like everything would be okay.

Nor had Harry had any nightmares since then either which was an added bonus.

"I know," She finally agreed, "I just like making sure."

Harry understood that. They were not exactly like ordinary couples in that they both had had difficult backgrounds and feelings of being unwanted and unloved.

As as result it was sometimes hard to imagine that they could be so lucky to have the other in their life, so they often questioned how the other felt about how their relationship was going or what they were doing in it, honesty being the best policy.

So she knew he really, really liked her and he knew she really, really liked him without having to go into any mushy, gushy details.

They were very happy together and that was all they needed for now. Their future would straighten itself out, she reasoned.

"It's just up ahead," Harry proclaimed as he glanced down at the map.

The map, to whoever had made it's credit, certainly looked authentic, not that she was sure what a real treasure map looked like.

According to the map, the treasure was located right in front of a large tree.

Like that one, she recognized as she now looked in front of her.

The large tree was surprisingly an oak tree, not exactly tropical, but that obviously didn't mean it couldn't be planted here anyway.

When they finally reached the tree, Pansy noted that there were numerous carvings on the tree of former occupants of the island, with each couple having both of their names put inside a heart.

Tacky, she thought...even if she had admittedly done the same thing in doodles in her diary. Hopefully neither Harry or anyone else for that matter would ever find out just how much of a hopeless romantic she was getting.

It was rather obvious where they needed to be digging, the ground already disturbed and loose in a particular spot. The only trick was digging it up again.

Currently there was a rusty shovel hanging against the tree.

"Well start digging Harry," She volunteered for him.

He looked dubiously at the ground, clearly not exactly in the mood to be digging on a hot day just after a hike and with only a rusty shovel.

Still to his credit he picked it up anyway, sighing even as he did so.

Laughing a bit, she admitted, "I meant with magic silly."

Pointing her wand at the ground, she made the ground start to loosen and force itself out while she carefully made a large hole.

It didn't take long before she found what they were looking for, a large wooden chest.

"You want to be the one to get the treasure?" Harry asked politely.

Right, because that was the gentlemanly thing to do.

"All right," She agreed, "and thanks for not quipping what all the other couples probably did by saying that they were each others' treasure."

He laughed and said, "well I'll be really disappointed if we open up the chest and only find a note saying that."

Just as she was about to drop down into the hole to open up the chest, Harry asked, "let's see if either of us can guess what's really inside first before we open it."

"Well I highly doubt it's full of gold even if it would be nice," Pansy commented.

"What would you even need with a chest full of gold anyway?" Harry asked, "you're already rich."

Well technically it was her parents (and she supposed Harry as her current husband) were the ones that were rich, but he was still essentially correct.

"Give it all to charity of course," Pansy replied honestly.

Having grown up wealthy all her life and getting every material possession she could ever want from her parents, money really wasn't all that important to her. There were other things far more valuable than that she had found.

He studied her for a moment before realizing she was actually being truthful.

"Sometimes I forget how awesome you can be sometimes," He admitted.

She laughed a bit at that.

"I'm not always a mean nasty witch," She claimed.

For that, he gave her a nice long kiss, which she took gratefully. Really there could be nothing inside that treasure chest better than one of Harry's kisses, she concluded.

"It could be an explanation on just who and how we ended up married to each other on this island," He reminded her.

That was certainly an interesting idea.

"It would be nice to know so that we could thank them," She agreed, "before killing them of course for the trouble they caused us."

"I'll bet it's just Sirius having decided to play one last joke on me," Harry replied, "he'll probably have set up some rubber snakes to pop out of the chest as soon as we open it with a note on it saying surprise."

"That does sound like him from what you've told me," Pansy replied.

Of course Harry had told her about Sirius, as time went on it was becoming more and more easier to trust each other.

"Or maybe it's my parents as a way of making sure I get the smartest match I could get," Pansy then suggested, "in which case the chest will be my dowry as well as a few business contracts my father wants to get you to sign."

He frowned and said, "If that turns out to be the case I just might end up killing your father."

"If it's him I'll be the one killing him first," Pansy answered.

It was super doubtful anyway.

"Maybe it contains an object that will allow us to travel back in time to when this whole thing began to set this all up," Harry stated.

She'd thought of this one too, and while it admittedly would be rather nice to find out that she could time travel, it seemed highly unlikely that they would be the ones to discover such an object put randomly inside here.

"Wouldn't that mess with the space-time contithingy?" Pansy questioned.

"Continuum," He corrected her, "but I suppose yes, even though it really isn't my first time messing with it."

"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised by that," Pansy replied.

After a few seconds Harry stated, "well I suppose the only way to find out what's in the chest is to actually open it up."

He then helped her down into the hole so that she could open it.

Yet as she tried to, she soon realized that it was locked.

"It's locked," She admitted.

"Lame," Harry said.

At first she was about to suggest that perhaps they needed to wait for the key or get it from some other little expedition they got sent on, but then she noticed writing in small print on the side of the chest.

"Hold on, it says something," Pansy stated as she read, "the key to this chest is expressing the love that you have for one another."

Her heart sank a bit at that. For any ordinary honeymoon couple passing through here such a thing would be rather easy. For themselves... it was a bit different. They'd really only been getting to know each other for 20 days and only 10 of those had they actually been a couple.

Saying I love you was kind of a big step.

"I love you," Harry said before she could think any further.

She looked up at him with complete shock and wonder.

"You love me?" She questioned, fearing and hoping for the answer.

It was like her life was flashing before her, that Harry was now telling her he loved her and then they'd stay married and have 4 wonderful kids, 2 boys and 2 girls and live in a modest home with a white picket fence and have a pool and...

Then he immediately dashed her dreams by shrugging and admitting, "I was just trying to get the chest to open."

"Oh right," She said, trying very hard not to show her disappointment.

It was stupid of her anyway, she chided herself. People didn't fall in love that fast, especially not someone as great as Harry for someone like her.

"I guess I'd better say I love you too then," Pansy said, although feeling like butterflies were about to explode out of her when she said it.

The invisible lock clicked as the chest swung open of it's own accord.

Peering down inside, she saw no gold doubloons, neither rubber snakes, or anything like that.

Instead she spotted a bunch of random items which looked rather nice but all of which looked broken and unusable.

If this was a trap, you'd think who'd ever set it up would put in more tempting items.

Instead it appeared to only be a rubbish container.

What first caught her eye was something that appeared to actually be gold, but it was so tarnished with rust she could barely even see tell that it was once a cup.

She hadn't even been aware that gold could rust which caused her to think it was probably just some sort of other metal that only looked like gold.

Nevertheless she lifted it out of the chest to show Harry even though the bottom of it fell out as soon as he got it in his hands.

The next item that caught her eye was what appeared to be a large stuffed snake head.

She ignored it however. Plenty of her housemates seemed to like collecting stuff like that but not her.

She was a Slytherin but it didn't mean she cared much for real snakes, especially not parts of dead but real ones.

After moving on to the next item, a silver locket which was also totally rusty and covered in black grime that she didn't care to clean off, she also passed that to Harry.

Next was two halves of a diadem that was like everything else it seemed covered in grime and rust, and then finally a ring missing the stone that it looked like it had once had.

"It's nothing but junk," Harry said disgustedly.

"A bit disappointing," Pansy agreed as she put all of it back inside the chest.

"Well I don't suppose the old you're my treasure line would help cheer you up would it?" Harry questioned.

She laughed and then said, "it just might, my treasure."

After kissing for a bit, they decided to head back.

MARRIAGEMARRIAGEMARRIAGE

The next morning Pansy awoke to find herself in Harry's arms, just the way she liked it.

After this she wasn't sure if she'd even be able to sleep by herself again.

At any rate, much to her surprise he was still sleeping.

Harry always seemed to wake up before she did, but this time it appeared she would have the luxury of listening to him sleep...

Or she could try to surprise him.

Gently so as not to wake him, she managed to get away and out of bed.

She'd make him breakfast in bed she decided. Of course Tipsy could do that, but she wanted to be the one to do it.

Of course by the time she had gotten to the kitchen she realized she didn't know how to cook anything, having had a house elf back at home fix all of her meals.

Well that simply wouldn't do to be so dependent, she concluded.

After spotting some pancake mix, she decided to make pancakes and with some relief she noted that there were even directions on the side.

Perfect, she thought.

However just as she was mixing the batter into the bowl, realizing she had added way too much water, she heard a noise at the door.

It couldn't be Harry, he'd have needed to go through the kitchen in order to get there and Tipsy she knew slept out in the shed at nights and wouldn't be in here this early.

Her instincts then told her to be cautious as she approached the door, now drawing her wand.

To her surprise there was a black cloaked and hooded figure now standing just inside, a silver mask covering his face.

A Death Eater!

It just had to be You-know-who or some of his followers that found them first, she thought worriedly.

It didn't take much effort to figure out why they were here either.

Fortunately the death eater hadn't spotted her yet which she used to her advantage, launching a spell at him which he took right in the chest, knocking him out.

Before she could do anything else however, a hand suddenly clasped around her mouth to prevent her from screaming.

Turning around in fear, she spotted her attacker, someone else wearing a black cloak and a silver mask.

At first she expected him to pull out a knife or kill her with his wand, but then she spotted the blonde hair sticking out of the top of the mask.

She would recognize that blonde hair anywhere.

"Draco?" She questioned.

To answer her question, Draco removed his mask for her as he took his hand off her mouth at the same time.

"It's me," He confirmed with a smug grin, "did you miss me?"

She was so shocked that he would be here, on this island that she could only ask, "what are you doing here?"

"When your parents contacted us after they realized you were missing, Father hired private investigators to help track you down," Draco explained before glancing over at the fallen death eater, "though it appears you already met one of them. No need to be frightened though."

He didn't seem to care at all what she'd done to his fallen comrade, as if he was totally meaningless to him acting much the same way he often treated her.

"You can't be here Draco," Pansy insisted.

Draco had a hard look on his face before admitting, "I know all about it Pansy, Potter kidnapping you and forcing you to marry him, don't worry I won't hold it against you. Potter is going to pay for doing this to my betrothed."

So that's what Draco was assuming. Well she supposed it really was the only assumption he could make. Still she was wondering why he was being so forgiving of her.

"Besides the joke is on Potter," Draco pointed out, "once he's dead you'll get the opportunity to inherit all of his money."

Ah, that would be why. He was just hoping to get at all of Potter's money and no wonder he was now showing an interest in her. Her value had now markedly increased.

If this had been day 1 she would have happily gone with him thinking the same thing about Harry.

Yet it wasn't day 1 and she was with Harry now, nor did she want to leave...at least not without him.

What Draco had said however caused her to worry about what kind of revenge he had in mind.

"What are you going to do to him?" Pansy questioned, trying to glean information and figure out what to do.

"I'll bet you want to kill him don't you," Draco surmised with a grin, "well we can't just yet. I've got another man in the bedroom keeping him asleep but we'll just have to hold onto him for a bit until the Dark Lord gets here."

"He's coming?" Pansy asked in alarm.

That was so not good. Really not good.

"Father wanted us to go on ahead and make sure Potter was here and already taken care of beforehand as a present to gain favor. He'll be here by tomorrow, but of course we don't have to stay that long...unless you want to stay that long," Draco drawled with a slight hint at something at the end.

He gave a lust filled glance at her body nearly causing her to gag.

Having Draco actually show interest in her used to be something that she wanted, not because she was attracted to him but because she had thought that it would help fulfill her parents' wishes.

Now however there was just no way she was going to go with him and leave Harry to die.

She would have to stop him somehow. Of course there was still the other guy in the bedroom to deal with, but she'd have to concentrate on Draco first.

Her first thought was to try and get him with her wand, but as close as he was, he was sure to hear her try to cast the incantation before she could get him and she hadn't yet learned how to cast silent spells in school.

Without actually looking, she tried to think of anything else she could use.

The knives would be a bit too suspicious, but then she thought of the pancake batter. It was a good thing she'd added too much water.

"Would you like some pancakes Draco?" She tried to say sweetly.

Draco seemed a bit surprised as he admitted, "I didn't know you could cook...nor do you need to. My future wife shouldn't have to do any servant's work."

"Well," Pansy admitted as she went and held up the pancake bowl, "there are a lot of things you don't know about me.

She flung the pancake mix at him as it sailed out of the bowl and directly into his face.

Just as he was trying to get it out of his eyes, she used her wand to knock him out.

Unfortunately before she could gloat over her victory in finally doing what she'd always wanted to do and knock Draco out, the sounds she had made had alerted the other death eater/private investigator that Draco's father had hired as he tried to find out what the commotion was all about.

She tried to hit him with a spell, but he was more alert than her other two opponents had been as he managed to dodge it.

Fortunately her dueling skills weren't all that bad having learned a decent amount from a tutor her parents had hired. Her mother considered it unladylike, but her father had been of the opinion that dueling was an expected skill of any member of a high class wizard family.

Those skills however were immediately put to the test as she barely dodged a spell cast at her.

Firing back one of her own, she quickly realized that she couldn't win against this obviously fully grown, more experienced man or hold out against him for long.

She would have to fight dirty.

"Hey, by the way you look really handsome in that uniform," She claimed.

That caused him to hesitate for just a second, just long enough for her to cast another spell.

He tried to dodge that one, but not quite as it got him in the arm, knocking him out.

"Not," She finished as she strode triumphantly towards him.

While she'd ultimately used the same spell to take down all 3 death eaters, it had worked so she wasn't complaining.

Not bad if she did say so herself, even if she was incredibly lucky.

Now going over to Harry back in the bedroom, she found him appearing to be unharmed but evidently under some sort of sleeping spell.

He'd wake up of his own accord soon enough she realized.

In the meantime, she managed to tie up and gag Draco and the two other guys, taking extra care to make sure they couldn't get out of them...as well as kicking Draco a few times...just to make sure he was still unconscious of course.

Then she sat back to decide what to do now.

You-know-who was coming, that was a fact and once he came...well their chances were not good that they would come out of it alive.

That left escaping somehow, but of course if they could do that they would have already done so long ago.

Tipsy had however said that in the event of an emergency...

Well this was an emergency.

She tried calling for the little elf, but she failed to appear.

Tipsy had done this multiple times throughout their stay here, but none more inconvenient than right now.

Hopefully she would be back soon or maybe she had even already traveled back to her master or somebody else to go and get help when she'd noticed any signs of danger.

Unfortunately she couldn't exactly count on that, especially not with the time that she currently had.

Hiding would also be impossible, You-know-who would turn over the entire island if he had to looking for them.

So that left fighting and she doubted herself and Harry could last long against such an opponent even if they were fortuitous enough for him to come alone...which was extremely unlikely.

Still it was their only chance even though the chances were far greater that they would die on this island.

Well at least she had had Harry...for however short a time.

MARRIAGEMARRIAGEMARRIAGE

A few hours later found her and Harry currently cuddling in the bed, both simply waiting for the inevitable, trying to draw strength from each other.

"You should run and hide," Harry recommended, "Voldemort only wants me, if he were to just kill me, he'd probably just be satisfied with that and leave."

"I'm not leaving you to die Harry," Pansy insisted bravely.

She did not at all feel confident nor feel like she would survive but...she couldn't live with herself anyway if she did that to Harry.

"I couldn't bear it if you died too," Harry argued.

He studied her with his pained looking emerald green eyes, already moist from tears that were sure to fall.

"Now you know how I feel," Pansy answered, "you're not getting rid of me that easily. Besides you'll need my help if you're to have any chance at all. Besides I took down all those death eaters for you. I'll be useful."

"You were pretty awesome," He agreed with a grin.

"Yeah," She grinned back, "I was, wasn't I."

After a moment's pause, Harry admitted, "still even so, no matter what happens, I'm glad that I got a chance to know you."

"Likewise," She replied, "besides what a way to go out right?"

He sighed and said, "I suppose I can't stop you from staying and fighting alongside me."

She rolled her eyes at that. No way he was going to get to be that noble...or stupid.

"Let's face it, you just can't seem to get rid of me can you?" She pointed out earning a laugh from him.

Harry sat up before asking, "well given that today could very well both be our last day on earth, is there anything you'd like to do?"

She thought about that for a moment. They could try to prepare for battle, but with essentially no weapons other than their wands and any fortifications they might make being far too easy to be destroyed there really wasn't much to be accomplished there, nor would any last minute duel training do much good by this point.

Instead she wanted to make it a day that she would truly love and hopefully give her the strength she would need in order to accomplish the impossible.

Finally she suggested, "well you know, we never did consummate our marriage did we?"

He looked shocked for a moment before saying, "I think I can make that happen."

Author's Note: Only one more chapter to go before this story finishes. Hopefully it isn't an extra short one if you know what I mean.

Please Review!


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Harry was currently lying naked wrapped around Pansy's equally naked body, resting after a most enjoyable time...or two...or three...or frankly he had lost count how many times they had done it.

Sure such an act was done partly out of desperation, done out of a desire to lose their virginity before a potentially life ending fight, but he still was entirely grateful that they had done it nonetheless.

Pansy was absolutely amazing in every way, he concluded.

He could have sex with her a million times and never get tired of it.

Right now however he had something really important to say.

"You know I've been thinking," He commented, "if we're going to eat together, play together, do everything together, even sleep together and with each other we should get married."

Pansy laughed a bit at that as she told him, "not going to happen Harry."

"Why not?" He questioned, pretending to play dumb.

"Um, do I really need to give all the reasons why not?" Pansy asked him.

"Well darn it I already got a ring," Harry answered as he pulled out the wedding ring that she had found on her finger the first day.

Pansy seemed to study it before finally saying, "all right, I'll marry you Harry."

"YES!" He replied, pretending to be extremely happy.

After laughing again, he was about to put it on her finger when they both seemed to realize the potential meaning behind such an act.

"Would you really want to stay married to me Harry?" Pansy questioned very nervously.

She appeared to be a bit afraid as to the response, although clearly having already put herself into such a weak position.

Yet he couldn't bring himself to say no to her, not that she wasn't strong enough to accept such an answer...it was that he was the one feeling somehow not strong enough for such an answer.

He hadn't really been living before he had met her...he needed her. Needed her to make him feel the way that only she could make him feel. Even if that didn't mean staying married, he still needed her in his life.

Somehow feeling like he needed to make some sort of grand speech but failing to come up with the words, he said simply but with repercussions that could easily echo into eternity, "yes."

She seemed to study him, looking deeply into his eyes as she tried to detect just how honest he was being.

Equally so he was also watching her for her reaction.

"Well all right then Mr. Potter," Pansy finally stated.

Her eyes were moist, although she was clearly fighting it. Pansy was not overly emotional...but right now it appeared even she couldn't help it.

Nor could he.

"Darn tears," She complained as she wiped her eyes, "I'm a total emotional wreck."

"Yes, but you're my emotional wreck," He pointed out as he drew her in for an embrace.

"More like you're the one who is mine," Pansy replied, "even if I have to fight off all the other girls with a stick."

"Oh I had no idea you wanted to protect me that badly," Harry teased.

She looked directly into his eyes, her own beautiful ones gazing back at him as she announced, "well we tend to protect...the people we love."

Pansy had just said that to him. Pansy Park...no Potter had just said that to him. She loved him. Sure it only took 3 weeks stuck on an island and now facing almost certain death, but he could still tell she really truly meant it.

It made what he said next all the more poignant for him.

"I love you too Pansy," He answered solemnly.

They leaned in and kissed for a long moment before disconnecting.

"I just wanted to get that out of the way before we...well you know," Pansy informed him.

"It's still not too late to try and run and hide," He observed.

"Forget it Harry, I'm staying and fighting right alongside my husband," She insisted.

Her husband...the words rang in his ears. Pansy was his wife...and that was totally mind boggling awesome.

Glancing down at her ring again, he couldn't help but note the symbolism that a ring held. It being a ring in some cultures symbolized the meaning of eternity.

"Will you take this ring?" He questioned Pansy.

She looked down at it before saying, "only if you'll take yours."

After retrieving his ring they grabbed each others' hands as they slipped it onto their fingers.

It felt complete somehow, like they had totally acknowledged who they really were: the Potters.

After holding each other for a moment however he reminded her, "do you think Draco heard us having sex in here?"

"Oh I would certainly hope so," Pansy admitted with a sly smile, "I tried to be extra loud in places just so that he would be forced to hear."

"Well I do love sticking it to Draco," Harry said, "especially now that I have his girl."

"What are you talking about?" Pansy claimed, "I was never Draco's and I'd say you're more mine than I am yours."

"How so?" He questioned.

"Since I'll be insisting from now on that you practically worship my body," She responded.

"Oh now that is definitely true, I don't think I'll ever get enough of you," He told her.

"Good answer," She agreed as she leaned in to kiss him again.

A moment later however he suggested, "I really do think you should try and talk to Draco though...you know while there is still time."

She sighed before finally nodding as she went to go put some clothes on.

No one especially not Draco and his other two Death Eating pals were getting a show of his naked wife. That was for him and him alone.

It was of course new to be thinking of Pansy in such a way as his wife even if that's what she had been all this time. However it was new that they were both accepting and appreciating it.

After deciding to get some clothes on himself (although slightly tempted to moon Draco) they both walked out of the room over to where they still had their hostages tied up.

They'd given them food and water and allowed them out one at a time to go to the bathroom before so they should still be okay.

"Hello Draco," Pansy greeted him as she gave him a wide smile.

Draco on the other hand, since he was bound and gagged could only watch her.

"I suppose you already knew we were married, but your crucial mistake was thinking that I would still be loyal to you," Pansy informed him as she opted to goad and taunt him, "you should know that I never liked you...ever...personally I always thought you were a little, creepy jerk who was way too full of himself. I want you to know that I love Harry Potter...and you can't do anything more to stop it."

Draco tried to lunge angrily at her, but all he could seem to do was make the bands wrapped around him to tighten even more and cause him pain.

"Good job with the ropes Mrs. Potter," He congratulated her.

"No problem Mr. Potter," Pansy replied with a smile.

He was sure that if Draco could speak he would be saying things like "my father" or "my father" or "my father."

That was really the only thing Draco ever said when he was in a trouble or wanted to threaten someone.

Talk about a daddy's boy, he thought. Admittedly Draco was a piece of rubbish with more arrogance than brains, but he practically worshiped his father who admittedly was a lot more formidable.

It was a wonder Draco could manage to even wipe himself without his father's help.

"Yes, yes I know your father will be coming along with a bunch of other big bad guys to rescue you," Pansy decided to say for him, "frankly that stinks but also for you. You see if I'm going to die I might as well take you with me. I'll be setting up a death trigger charm...which means...if I or Harry do end up dying, you will die as well. I figure that gives me some extra insurance. I'd imagine Daddy won't like that very much now will he if he shows up?"

It was surprising what Pansy was doing or even that she knew how to do it...however he couldn't disagree with her deciding to do something like that. Frankly they could use all the help they could get even if they did have to fight a little dirty to do so.

"Don't worry about you boys," Pansy informed the other two death eaters, "I'll be sure and do the same for you even if I'm not sure anyone would miss you. From what I can tell your master sent just about the 3 worst death eaters he could find to try and get us."

"It is rather sad just how low of an opinion he has of me in that case," Harry agreed.

Personally while he was just doing it for insult's sake, he was still extremely grateful for their good fortune...if you could call it that, in allowing Pansy to take them all down by herself.

Next time however, he was going to be the one doing the protecting whether she liked it or not.

They'd already discussed it and figured out they wouldn't be pulling any punches in the upcoming fight if they wanted to even have a chance. They'd be using spells to kill.

Once Pansy had gotten done waving her wand over each of the death eaters casting some sort of long spell upon each of them and then themselves he asked her, "where did you even learn a spell like that?"

"Your mother's diary actually," Pansy explained, "I was wondering if she had written down in it any information on just how she managed to protect you the first time. Evidently she did as she included quite a few notes on the subject. She'd been planning to use it for a long time just in case. The one I used was a variation of the one she used but should prove to still be effective."

"It doesn't...um...require love or anything like that?" He questioned.

"I already told you I love you," Pansy pointed out, "and I wouldn't have said it if I didn't mean it...and not it doesn't require love anyway."

Their love was still extremely young, having just admitted it to each other, however he still truly and honestly believed her just as much as he believed that he truly loved her.

"Shouldn't we try to use it on each other or something?" He suggested.

"Voldemort at least will have a counter to that by now I'm sure after having already learned his lesson the first time," Pansy observed, while at the same time deciding to brave using their foe's name, "besides like I said I used a certain variation. The one your mom used is a lot more complicated and frankly beyond my skill to do. Mine is a lot more difficult to remove and I'm mostly just using it to perhaps encourage Draco's father if he shows up to hesitate a bit on wanting to fight us. It should be rather good incentive."

"I see," He finally answered.

"So..." He suggested, "Voldemort isn't here yet...so want to have sex until he does?"

She laughed morbidly but finally said, "obviously."

They both hastened to go back into the bedroom.

MARRIAGEMARRIAGEMARRIAGE

Evidently Dark Lords or at least Voldemort took his own sweet time getting places because several more days went by.

Honestly he was starting to get annoyed. The suspense and worry alone was practically killing him, and what with his other activities with Pansy, he wasn't exactly getting much sleep.

They'd even questioned their hostages a bit just to make sure he was really coming.

From what they got out of them, it appeared at least they believed it.

So either Voldemort was going to show up but was later than expected which was good, or he just wasn't going to show up at all which was really, really good.

They might even get to last the whole 30 days and get to leave this island.

Then he could stay married to Pansy, gloat over it to Malfoy again while he was in Azkaban, and then have 4 beautiful children, and have a house with a white picket fence and...

All right so now some of Pansy's evident fantasies were starting to mix with his own but it's not like he didn't like such ideas.

Sure they could realize they couldn't reconcile their differences or something that seemed even more and more unlikely everyday and get divorced but he saw no reason to do so now.

Besides this whole practically waiting on death thing kind of put things in perspective. Life was too short to sweat the small stuff.

Sure Pansy and he had their differences, but what couple didn't. Besides she was hot so it totally made up for it.

Or at least that's what he told her.

Finally however as if to prove that they would not be getting away that easily, they finally heard the sound of a magically amplified voice, that cold evil voice that had haunted him in his dreams.

"POTTER!" The voice called.

He looked over at Pansy who was currently sitting right next to him.

"Ready?" He asked worriedly.

"Ready to kick Voldemort's butt," She agreed.

Deciding to just be cliché for once, they kissed before allowing one last declaration of love each.

"I love you Harry," Pansy told him.

"I love you too Mrs. Pansy Potter," He answered.

Finally they strode out to the front door, opened it and headed outside.

Yet instead of seeing dozens of masked figures the only one currently standing there was Voldemort himself.

Admittedly he did not look in the best of shape even managing to somehow appear less scary, downgraded from "I could kill you simply by looking at you" to a more pleasant in comparison "I'm dangerous, stay away."

When he said didn't seem to be in all that great of shape, that was relative too since of course anyone who looked like Voldemort did wouldn't appear to be in all that great a shape, but currently his black cloak was extremely tattered and worn, there were many various cuts all over the parts of his body that were exposed and he even seemed to be wheezing and having difficulty breathing.

It felt odd to be looking at his archnemesis in such a state, but he definitely wasn't complaining either.

"Ah so I have finally found you," Voldemort greeted him, sounding somehow upset at this instead of positively gleeful, "it appears you've cost me everything once again to try and kill you."

"What are you talking about?" Harry questioned.

"I'm talking about the hurricane, the stupid Muggle missiles, the poisoned berries, the sea serpent, and all other calamities that me and my forces faced while trying to get here, you fool!" Voldemort roared in anger, "they're all dead."

He tried to let that sink in. So essentially a series of highly unlikely but extremely fortuitous acts had caused Voldemort to lose most if not all of his death eaters."

Evidently someone up there was looking out for him, he realized. Perhaps the possible "act of a deity" theory about this whole thing was being proven true.

In which case he'd better thank them...even if they hadn't evidently bothered to kill Voldemort for him.

He supposed he couldn't have everything...stupid fate.

It didn't take long for Voldemort to start throwing spells, obviously not in the mood to talk or monologue about how he was going to kill him.

At any rate he found himself immediately dodging them.

A sickly green Avada Kedavra whizzed right past his ear before he tried countering with a Reducto.

Voldemort however conjured a shield, an actual shield like he had done in his duel with Dumbledore in the Department of Mysteries.

The spell harmlessly bounced off it.

"Daruka!" Voldemort yelled as a totally black jet of light burst from his wand.

Whatever spell it was it looked evil looking which he had to quickly dodge. He sent an explosion spell of his own back at him which Voldemort also let hit his shield.

"Serpensortia!" His nemesis declared.

A huge black snake came out of Voldemort's wand which immediately slithered forward to attack him.

"Don't attack me," He hissed at the snake.

The snake seemed to hesitate at that, clearly understanding him.

"ATTACK HIM!" Hissed Voldemort.

The snake seemed to recognize who it's master was as it continued to slither forward.

"You cost me Nagini," Voldemort declared as he made a slashing motion with his wand.

The spell caught him by surprise as it managed to cut into the sleeve of his shirt as well as leave a nasty cut.

The stinging pain momentarily stopped him, just for a millisecond, but that was all Voldemort's snake needed to pounce.

He saw it lunge forward but wasn't quick enough to stop it as it attempted to bite down into his leg.

Yet just as he expected fangs to be biting directly into him, the snake instead suddenly evaporated.

He turned to look at his rescuer.

Pansy sent him a nod as she commented, "I don't like live snakes."

She wasn't the only one. They were dealing with the worst snake of all at the moment.

Now he was a really good duelist (or at least he liked to think so) but when your opponent is the most powerful dark lord in history the odds aren't exactly in your favor.

Fortunately he had help and right now he couldn't think of anyone else he'd rather have fighting alongside him than Pansy.

She appeared to be ferocious, love and determination more than making up for any deficiencies she might have had.

She was even managing to hold her own throwing spells and generally slowing Voldemort down.

He was of course worried that she might become the major target being perceived as weaker, but Voldemort fortunately was totally focused on him almost as if Pansy didn't even exist, a savage, hungry look in his red, evil-looking eyes.

He wanted him dead he realized. He'd always known Voldemort was insane, but it was clear he'd reached a whole new level of madness, like the one thing keeping him going, the only thing going on in his awful corrupted mind was to kill him.

With that kind of absolute lethal focus it was a wonder he hadn't gotten hit yet, nor could it be entirely blamed on his skills alone. If Pansy hadn't been there helping to slow his opponent down he might already be dead.

Fortunately with her help he still felt he had a chance. He had to have a chance. There was just no way he was going to die now, that he was going to let Voldemort get him after all this time.

He'd found love. He actually had a reason to live. Just kill Voldemort and they could live their lives in peace.

"Bombarda," He yelled as he threw another spell at Voldemort with all his might, putting in everything he had.

The spell hit Voldemort's shield but instead of simply bouncing off, it impacted the shield with such force and power that Voldemort was not only knocked back but a huge dent was left in it.

Pressing forward in the attack, he started throwing more spells into it.

"You can't kill me Harry," Voldemort told him boldly as spells continued to batter away at his shield.

"Want to bet?" Pansy asked coldly, "AVADA KEDAVRA!"

A burst of green light erupted from her wand.

No stupid shield could protect against an Unforgivable.

Voldemort was forced to dodge it before he seemed to now finally consider Pansy a threat as he cast his own green spell at her.

He was worried for Pansy now. If Voldemort was to turn his attention on her...

Well he simply wasn't going to let that happen.

He went totally on the offensive now, all of his spells designed to kill.

Reducto, Bombarda, Incendio, basically anything he had in his arsenal. He tried using Avada Kedavra but evidently it wasn't working either because he just wasn't casting it properly.

Bellatrix Lestrange had said in the Department of Mysteries that in order to use an Unforgivable you had to mean it.

Well he definitely wanted Voldemort dead so that shouldn't be a problem.

At any rate, Voldemort was definitely taking notice of it as he was forced to block or dodge whatever was thrown at him.

Then...horribly...his luck ran out.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" Voldemort yelled.

However it wasn't aimed at him. It was aimed at Pansy.

She tried to dodge it but it ended up clipping her in the hand.

Pansy went down, the killing spell doing its job.

"NOOOOOOOOOO!" He yelled in anguish and anger.

He had to get to her, he had to save her, he had to...

He couldn't live without her. His life had been nothing before her. He'd be dead inside without her.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" He said with all the power that he had.

Voldemort only just barely managed to dodge it but he threw the exact same spell at him again.

And again.

Hate and Revenge was now fueling his spells. Hate not only for Voldemort but for what he had taken from him.

Pansy didn't deserve to die. Not like that. He'd at least make sure she didn't die in vain.

Voldemort however laughed as he said, "Oh, did you I kill someone important to you?"

Disgusting, he thought. Voldemort had taken so many loved ones from him and now he even had the nerve to gloat over it.

Pansy would be the last. The last victim Voldemort would ever claim.

With one final spell, one last killing curse, the green light that was meant to claim the life of the monster known as Voldemort hit.

Right in the chest.

A look of shock was on Voldemort's face, as if even at the very end unable to believe that he wasn't invincible.

His body fell forward, dead before he even hit the ground.

However at the moment he simply did not care about him.

Did not care about anything right now. Other than...Pansy was dead.

Rushing over to her fallen body, he vainly tried to find some sign of life as he reached to check her heart and pulse, to somehow miraculously find that she was still alive.

There was none.

Tears were already dripping freely down his cheeks.

It wasn't supposed to end like this. He'd come so far, even killed Voldemort just to see the woman that he loved die right in front of him.

They were supposed to stay married. To have 4 kids and...and have a white picket fence and...

None of that would happen now. Pansy was dead and he now had nothing left to live for.

He thought then that perhaps it might be better if he was just to end his own life right now. If there was an afterlife, at least then he'd be able to get to see Pansy again.

Not even death was going to ever make him stop loving her.

They'd had so little time together, not even the month they thought they would have, but...this was just wrong.

Whoever had done all this to him, putting him and Pansy together like they had could only be the cruelest being imaginable, to help them find love only to have it taken from them almost as soon as it started.

Almost idly, he glanced down at Pansy's cold, lifeless hand, the same hand that Voldemort had hit her with, still with the wedding ring she had on it.

Yet it wasn't until then that he realized what was now different from it.

The stone on it was no longer a diamond, now a cracked black rock, as if Voldemort's spell had ruined it somehow.

Then...Pansy took a breath.

A great gasping breath as she came back into the world of the living.

Just how or why, he didn't care, she was alive and that was all that mattered.

"Harry?" Pansy asked somewhat weakly.

"I'm here love," He told her.

"Did you kill Voldemort?" She asked him.

"We did," He insisted.

She managed to smile weakly as she observed, "I guess you're not getting rid of me that easily."

He managed to laugh even though tears were still freely flowing down his cheeks as he replied, "funerals are too expensive."

"Weddings and honeymoons aren't?" Pansy pointed out.

"I'm willing to foot the bill for that," He told her as he dropped down to hold her...right where he belonged.

It was a full hour before either of them really moved as he started to now think of everything that had happened.

Voldemort was dead, they were both alive and free to live their lives together...yet he couldn't help but wonder how now that he knew Pansy was going to be alright.

"How are you alive?" He questioned.

"I think the spell must have hit my wedding ring," Pansy observed, "it absorbed just enough damage from the spell. Good thing I was wearing it huh?"

He planted a kiss on her lips, but was still trying to figure it out.

Perhaps he'd never know, but other than to satisfy his curiosity he didn't need to.

Yet...

"Well how would you want everything that's happened to have happened?" Pansy asked him.

"I still like time travel," Harry told her, "in which case I'd want our future selves to show up right about now."

"Good timing," Came a familiar voice.

He turned to look at them.

There stood an older looking Harry and Pansy. If he had to guess they were about in their 40s. His older self had a bit of gray in his hair, but otherwise still looked in pretty good shape.

Pansy of course was gorgeous despite her older age. Her dark hair was longer, but otherwise he would have had a tough time telling her and present Pansy apart.

If he had been at all worried that his wife wouldn't look so good 25 years in the future, such thoughts were immediately put to rest.

"Hello Harry and Pansy," The older Pansy greeted warmly.

As she did so, she held up her hand, a diamond ring entirely unlike the now evidently destroyed ring that she had first gotten.

At learning just what had been going on with them, he did the only sensible thing he could think of, he pointed his finger at Pansy and declared, "I told you!"

"It's okay," Older Pansy observed, "I told this Harry you were going to say that again."

"I'd imagine you'd like us to explain," Older Harry replied, "so I'll just go over what was explained to me when I was you. A lot of other things you'll figure out on your own eventually and over time. I'll begin with your first foray into time travel Harry. Think of how you managed to defeat those Dementors. Had not your older self managed to cast the Patronus Charm, your younger self would have had died and thus never lived to go back in time and perform the spell."

"I never really understood that," Harry admitted.

"Trust me even I don't really understand it, I've just learned to use it to my advantage," His older counterpart told him, "the thing with time travel is that you can't actually change the past. Otherwise you could just go back in time when you knew Voldemort was going to be somewhere and take him by surprise and kill him. Instead whenever you do go back in time it only causes things to only work out exactly as they already occurred, often times only happening because you went back in time. It's why time travel isn't messed with so much, but we felt when we created our time travel device we'd be safe since we knew what was all going to happen anyway. We knew you and Pansy were going to wake up on an island, find yourselves married, and eventually fall in love."

"Not that I'm not grateful, but it still doesn't make total sense," Pansy pointed out.

Older Pansy however smiled at her as she answered, "that's why we call it a paradox. The Marriage Paradox is actually what we call it."

"We could of course have decided not to work on a time travel device, but then that would have caused neither of us to fall in love. The past I suppose would be changed, but neither of us would remember what those changes were and frankly we love our life together," Older Pansy said as she put an arm around Harry, "and just so you know we really do have 4 kids, 2 boys and 2 girls and have a house with a white picket fence."

"I guess I simply had to have that," Pansy commented.

"Now then, just a few more things to explain as I remember hearing it," Older Harry told them, "first of all, it was actually us that killed off most of Voldemort's forces. We just made sure that he ran into that hurricane, got the U.S. Government to think he was an unidentified enemy aircraft, and messed with him as much as we could to give you the best chance at survival. We even ensured that when you were attacked several days ago that the ones that actually were sent were some of the weakest Death Eaters."

"We knew you needed to have your little chat with Draco in order to get some closure," Older Pansy explained, "you'll find over time just how valuable even that little conversation was for you. By the way...that killing curse you managed to just barely survive from. You were actually dead so that spell you used on those Death Eaters activated. It killed them."

He supposed he should feel bad for causing that to happen...but...he really wasn't.

Glancing over at Pansy, she managed to get over it quickly as well.

"How did I not die from that killing curse?" Pansy questioned.

"I suppose luck, and faith since it had technically already happened for us, and well it just plain needed to happen," Older Harry answered, "for some reason we figured out that we couldn't be the ones to kill Voldemort it had to be you Harry. The problem was however when we learned about Voldemort's horcruxes and that wasn't until after he was dead that we couldn't destroy those either. So the trick was to get you destroy them with as little effort as possible. Since we already knew what would happen we decided that while it was dangerous it would also prove to be the most effective. One of the horcruxes was inside the ring which we disguised as Pansy's wedding ring. We managed to steal it from Dumbledore right before he was about to get cursed by it and remove the curse. The thing about that particular horcrux however is that it also has another power behind it: it can allow an individual to see and speak with the dead. While this also allowed us to speak with my parents and in particular my mother to find out where her journals were being kept, we figured out just why we were able to kill Voldemort then without actually having destroyed any of his horcruxes yet: since a horcrux so closely resembles what the ring was doing in allowing you to speak with a phantom of a person already dead, we figured out that Voldemort and in fact that portion of his soul itself was using the ring to keep an eye on the other horcruxes to make sure they were safe. I'd imagine it was why Dumbledore sought after that one first so that Voldemort wouldn't have the ring to so easily find out where his other horcruxes were."

"There are actually 3 ways to destroy a horcrux," Pansy decided to start being the one to explain, "one and two is through tracking it down and using either basilisk venom or fiendfyre to destroy it or to have the person whose horcrux it was destroy it themselves. Obviously Voldemort would never do that himself on purpose which is why we disguised the ring. When his killing curse hit the ring, it caused the ring to not only destroy that horcrux, but due to that horcrux's connection to the others, it immediately destroyed those as well."

He tried to take it all in, still a bit confused, but their older selves seemed to be smiling at them as if knowing their lack of understanding.

Evidently it would just take more time, he concluded.

"Is that everything?" Older Harry asked.

"I think so," Older Pansy replied, "that's all I remember hearing anyway."

"Well then," Older Harry told them, "I suppose this is a part where we make a hasty exit and leave you to live out your wonderful lives in peace."

"See you in about 25 years," Older Pansy added.

Older Harry pulled out a silver device of some sort from his pocket, which Older Pansy also grasped before both of them disappeared.

Now alone, he commented, "so what now?"

She smiled and said, "well we still have our honeymoon to finish, I can think of a few things."

MARRIAGEMARRIAGE

By the time their honeymoon was over Harry had learned a few things. First of all he definitely loved Pansy, and secondly he didn't care what Ron and Hermione thought about their relationship at all. They would just have to deal with it and while it might be shaky at first he was hopeful that they would be able to move past it. Otherwise...he'd be choosing his wife over them.

It would just about break his heart, but he'd still do it.

Just how they would react however he really couldn't be sure, hopefully they would at least give him the chance to explain.

Of course that would be tough if they had heard anything at all about Voldemort.

However he ended up having several conversations with other people first. First of all were the Dursleys who after getting back home, informed them that he would be getting his stuff and just leaving.

Pansy had wanted to go with him and torture and possibly kill them for all of their mistreatment of them, but frankly he just wanted to move on and have them out of his life as soon as possible...and also to avoid Pansy from doing anything to them that was illegal.

He was pretty sure at some point she'd go anyway and show them exactly what she thought of them though.

Dumbledore was next, who he encountered on his way out the door of 4 Privet Drive.

The old headmaster opted to take him directly to Hogwarts via Portkey before he explained everything that had happened to him in his office.

In exchange, Dumbledore informed him just what had happened while he had been away. Evidently nearly all of Voldemort's forces were already dead and those few remaining were in hiding. There had been mass celebrations for the past few days, but no one could really explain the cause for the Death Eater's sudden demise.

Until now.

He finally compromised with Dumbledore as he rather wanted to avoid the credit and all the attention, after all it was his future self and future Pansy that had done most of the work...which he supposed was still him but he wasn't going to take credit for things that he hadn't actually done yet. Professor Snape for example would never give him credit for a blank homework assignment that was turned in because he at least intended to do it in the future.

However Dumbledore still managed to persuade him that at least the truth of him defeating Voldemort would come out anyways...with the condition that Pansy also be credited.

They would just have to live with being the couple who conquered he supposed.

By the time he got done talking to Dumbledore and went down to the great hall, he found the other students had already arrived, having just gotten off the train as they waited for the sorting to start.

Of course as he entered many people turned to stare at him. Nobody else really knew just what had happened, but they still seemed to sense that he was somehow involved.

He however ignored them as he first glanced over at the Slytherin table where Pansy was already getting up to meet him.

She wasn't going to be separated from him for anything. If he needed to he'd sit at the Slytherin table and she'd already told him she was fine with sitting at the Gryffindor table.

Dumbledore had even agreed to allow them to sleep in the married couples' dorms, which were mostly unused in this day and age, but not entirely unheard of to have a couple get married while still in school.

Ron and Hermione also appeared to be staring at him as he walked towards them but he tried to make his expression unreadable.

So this was the moment, he thought as he still headed towards the Gryffindor table, but still keeping an eye on Pansy.

Well why not surprise everyone and get it out of the way.

He and Pansy met directly in front of Ron and Hermione.

Ron seemed a bit annoyed to see Pansy coming over.

"Go away Parkinson," He said coldly.

"Actually it's Potter now," Pansy cruelly admitted.

Ron looked disgusted by that, unable to believe that even for a second.

Frankly he couldn't blame him, especially since she wasn't wearing a ring, hers being destroyed of course. He'd get her a new one as soon as possible.

"So what exactly happened Harry?" Hermione questioned.

He shrugged as if it was totally no big deal and said, "oh you know, defeated Voldemort, got married, nothing major."

"Yep, nothing major," Pansy agreed as she planted a kiss on his lips.

At that Ron turned a bright shade of red to match his hair before he literally fainted, his head banging against the table as he went down.

"That went well," Pansy commented, totally ignoring the many, many stares coming her way at this revelation.

In fact even Professor McGonagall was distracted as she called out the first name for the sorting. Evidently Alan Akissing didn't exist since she had somehow managed to mix it up with the real student Alan Avery.

"We've got a lot to talk about," He informed Hermione.

MARRIAGEMARRIAGE

In the end things turned out for the best. He and Pansy still ended up becoming famous as the couple who conquered but they at least got free vacations every year as thanks.

It was during several of those vacations in fact that all 4 of their children were conceived.

Despite doing well in starting up their own business developing magical inventions (Pansy's idea) they still opted for a more modest home, a home with a white picket fence.

Ron never did fully come around to the idea of Pansy being his wife. They still remained cordial with one another, but their friendship was never what it once was.

He now worked as groundskeeper at Hogwarts, living alone in what had once been Hagrid's hut.

Hermione however remained a good friend of both of theirs as she eventually was able to fully accept Pansy. She and her even became good friends of their own.

Dumbledore eventually retired as headmaster at the age of 170, having Professor McGonagall take over in his stead.

However it wasn't until one day 25 years later that Pansy approached him and announced, "guess what I've been working on? A time travel device."

After studying her for a bit he finally declared, "looks like we'll be taking ourselves on a honeymoon."

Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed the story. I know I certainly enjoyed writing it. For some reason Harry/Pansy is actually my favorite pairing. Just so you know I actually considered over a dozen different possible ways in which they ended up on the island, but I still ultimately liked time travel my original idea the best. Other ideas that I considered were the Weasley twins giving Harry one of their daydream inventions to try out, the result of Dumbledore experimenting on Harry in order to destroy the horcrux inside of him without killing him, and others which I already covered in the last chapter. Please feel free to review your appreciation (or displeasure); for it in reviews.


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